Modern Engineering and Construction carried out an upgrade at three grain receival sites for the Australian Bulk Alliance. The work involved the addition of 500 tonne and 250 tonne silos (total of 12 bins) to provide short term receival capacity for additional grain segregations during harvest. These works were completed for harvest in October, 2001.

The three sites upgraded (two in New South Wales and one in Victoria) primarily store grain in bunkers. In the past, this has limited the number of grain types that could be received to the number of bunker stackers available. Also, grain could not be received to bunkers in inclement weather. The additional silos provide capacity to receive and store grain in wet/windy weather and to take in a greater variety of grains at any one time.

The additional silos will also help overcome the weather limitations of recovering grain from bunkers to load trains. The silos are part of the rapid rail loading system and will be used to store additional grain recovered from bunkers during good weather. By having more grain in silos, the site operators will have more flexibility in meeting their train loading commitments.