Kennecott Utah Copper rail line explained

The Kennecott Utah Copper rail line was an electric railroad in Salt Lake County, Utah. It was managed by the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation and connected the Bingham Canyon Mine with its smelter at Garfield. The rail line has been replaced by a system of conveyors and a 17adj=midNaNadj=mid slurry pipeline. Current rail operations by Kennecott Utah Copper LLC only occur in the area of the smelter, on a remnant of what was a vast rail network.^[1]

The electric rail line replaced the Bingham and Garfield Railway ^[2] (opened in 1911) in 1948. That earlier line was built for the same purpose, replacing the Bingham Branch and Garfield Beach Extension of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which was not providing adequate service.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Utah Department of Transportation . Utah Department of Transportation . April 2015 . Utah State Rail Plan . 56 . Utah Department of Transportation . May 20, 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20201030231314/https://www.udot.utah.gov/main_old/uconowner.gf?n=22029103377080492 . 2020-10-30 . Kennecott’s current rail operations are focused on the smelter adjacent to the south end of the Great Salt Lake, where Kennecott is served by UP and has access to BNSF through its agent Utah Railway..
2. [Railway Equipment and Publication Company]
3. Book: R. A. LeMassena. Sundance Publications. Rio Grande ... to the Pacific!. 1974. 0-913582-09-3., pp. 123-125