Longest turbine blades hauled via rail leave Colorado

Longest wind turbine blades to be transported by railroad are headed out of Colorado

Two dozens of the longest wind turbine blades to be transported by railroad left Greeley recently bound for Texas.

The 264-foot V163 blades were manufactured at the Vestas facility in Windsor, per a company spokesperson.

Workers prepared a Vestas wind turbine blade for transport. Union Pacific Railroad

Standard turbine blades span 177 feet.

Two trains handled the transport of the blades, the first train was majority Burlington Northern-Santa Fe. Union Pacific Railroad was mostly responsible for the second train. In all, 72 rail cars were used. It will took five days for the train to travel to The Port of Brownsville, located at the southern tip of Texas's gulf coast.

Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad

Vestas, in a social media post, thanked OmniTRAX, Inc. and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail companies for their collaboration in the transport.

Logan Smith

Logan Smith is an assignment desk editor at CBS Colorado in Denver with more than 30 years of journalism experience in digital, television and print media.