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10/13/2025
Koppers Inc. provides pressure-treated wood products, including crossties, switch ties and bridge timbers. The company pressure-treats oak and mixed hardwood ties with its domestically manufactured?Koppers Creosote Petroleum Solution, offering both standard and dual-treatment options to meet diverse infrastructure needs.
Operating nine ISO 14001-certified treatment facilities in the United States and British Columbia, Canada, Koppers maintains full control of the supply chain — from sawmill to final delivery — through an expansive procurement network and robust logistics capabilities, company officials said in an email. The company also offers pre-plating services tailored to customer specifications and supports lifecycle management through efficient collection, reuse and recycling of end-of-life ties.
Meanwhile, Koppers Global Technology Center is an applied research facility and working laboratory focused on developing new product applications, as well as providing technical support and delivering comprehensive testing services.
Koppers also is actively engaged in advancing industry standards through participation in technical committees of associations such as the Railway Tie Association. Its involvement supports research in crosstie design, wood preservation, sustainable forestry and timber conservation.
A manufacturer of pressure-treated wood ties, Stella-Jones supplies the rail industry with up to 10 million pressure-treated wood ties per year, according to the company. Customers include Class Is, regionals and short lines, as well as industrial customers outside of the rail industry.
Stella-Jones produces mixed hardwood and oakwood treated ties with creosote, borate and copper naphthenate for railway bridges and grade crossings, maritime and foundation pilings, and construction timbers. The company also offers customized wood treatment services tailored to customers’ needs.
Stella-Jones operates more than 40 wood-treating facilities in the United States and Canada with 11 focused on the rail industry; the company also has a network of several hundred sawmill suppliers.
Combining large wood-tie production capacity and long-term relationships with numerous wood suppliers ensures Stella-Jones has a constant supply of raw material to support customers’ repair and maintenance demand, as well as address unforeseen emergencies, company officials said.
Nisus Corp. offers QNAP® copper naphthenate-treated ties that are designed to be sustainable and long lasting. QNAP-treated ties last 30% longer in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) field tests, company officials said.
QNAP-treated ties also can be burned in any state that permits boiler as fuel, and are labeled for use in residential landscaping, and as fencing and mulch. Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Non-Hazardous Secondary Material rule, only QNAP-treated ties can be used in any boiler covered by the rule, and are allowed as boiler fuel with creosote-treated ties, company officials said,
Testing conducted by the USDA Forest Product Laboratory on ties treated with copper naphthenate demonstrates an estimated service life of over 65 years. QNAP’s cleaner handling characteristics mean that crews face less risk of skin irritation when handling treated ties, company officials said.
Its non-conductive and non-corrosive formula gives it a “superior environmental profile” compared with other oil-borne preservatives while also resulting in less drippage, they added.
A family-owned company with more than four decades of experience in recycled and repurposed railroad ties, Omaha Track has expanded its operations to include rail and terminal services, equipment, rail-car repair and other rail-related products and services. The company annually processes more than 3 million ties.
Omaha Track partners with railroads — from Class Is to regionals to short lines — to provide safe, efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for end-of-life ties. High-quality ties are graded, bundled and resold for landscaping applications; lower-quality ties are chipped for alternative energy uses such as co-generation fuel for power plants and the cement industry.
The company’s tie processing facilities are strategically located across the United States to recover ties from railroad partners, process them and serve customers and retailers nationwide, Omaha Track officials said. The company recently announced a new processing facility in the eastern United States designed to generate tie chips to serve a large nearby cement plant and to provide additional capacity to serve additional markets. n
Michael Popke is a Madison, Wisconsin-based freelance writer. Email comments or questions to prograil@tradepress.com.