Hamilton Street Railway

2015

Problem: Since the late 1980’s, the City of Hamilton has been successfully operating as many as 120 48-passenger natural gas transit buses. With HSR’s decision to increase their natural gas bus fleet, the need arose to plan an upgrade to the existing CNG refuelling station (a Change Energy 2002 project) at their Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) Upper James Operations Centre. HSR’s preference was to not be responsible for owning and operating the facility. In 2015, HSR recommitted to natural gas and undertook a complete renovation of the facility in cooperation with Union Gas Limited.

Solution: Complete makeover of the existing refuelling station that comprised of compression, storage, and vehicle dispensing.

In fulfilling its contract to deliver a turn-key project Change Energy Services worked as subject matter experts to provide:

Station design and budget

• Existing equipment assessment for ongoing use

• New equipment specification

• Approvals and permits

• HazOp assessment

• Commissioning, acceptance testing and start-up management

• Operation & Maintenance documentation

• Operator training

• Assistance with equipment procurement, Installation and maintenance contracts, and project management

Compression

1000 installed compressor HP

3200 scfm (3875 kg/hr)

Suction pressure 100-200 psig (7-14 Barg)

Nominal discharge pressure 3600 psig (248 Barg)

Storage

4 ASME cylinders

Buffer configuration

Capacity of 46,284 SCF (900 kg)

Pressure at 4500 psi (310 barg)

Vehicle Dispenser

3 single hose dispensers

Capable of fuelling 2 buses and 1 light vehicle on a priority basis

Average fill time 4-6 minutes per bus

Daily transit vehicle fill cycle from 11pm to 5am