A glimmer of hope on the economy

A casual walk down on the waterfront these days finds a few positive signs for the local economy, a long battered bit of commerce that could use some good news. CN is piling up railway ties along the waterfront rail yard, ready to be put to use starting with the first week of April.

With the Container Port slowly starting to come to life at Fairview, CN is about to launch a most ambitious project of replacing rail line and upgrading the tunnel system between Prince Rupert and Prince George. In anticipation of a thriving port loaded with goods from Asia, CN is making its moves to increase the infrastructure of it's rail lines across the Northwest.

It's probably the first concrete sign that we've seen lately about a reversal of fortunes for the railway in the Northwest and for our economy locally. A welcome change from many of the past disappointments of the last five to six years.

The Daily News examined the plans from CN in it's Wednesday paper, we provide the podunkicized version for you below!

CN STARTS HUGE UPGRADE OF LINE FOR CONTAINER PORT
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Pages one and three

CN is stockpiling some 12,000 rail ties on the Prince Rupert waterfront in preparation for a spring line-maintenance program the likes of which has not been seen for some time.

It’s been hard to miss the piles of ties along the tracks to the west of Kwinitsa station in recent weeks, Jim Feeny, CN spokesperson, said those ties are already being moved out along the rail corridor in preparation for crews who are expected to begin work April 1.

“Ties are being changed out over the entire Skeena subdivision (the eastern corridor from Prince Rupert to Smithers) in anticipation of increased traffic from development in the region,” said Feeny.

“We do change ties regularly but this is a larger program than we have had in some time.”

He said CN is using the Prince Rupert rail yard as staging area for materials for upgrading the line.

As part of the program CN work crews will also address bridges and tunnels that have to be raised to allow for the clearance of double stacked container trains.

When it comes to tunnels along Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Terrace, he said they don’t have to eliminate the tunnel, simply raise the clearances using a machine that cuts square grooves along the top.

“There will still be a tunnel, we just have to adjust the height,” he said.

CN is one of several partners contributing funding for the Fairview Container Terminal. CN committed $30 million last April - $25 million will be for the trackage at the terminal site itself and $5 million will be spent to upgrade the lines to handle double-stacked container cars between Rupert and Prince George.

The new Fairview Container Terminal will move 500,000 TEU’s (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) per year. It is uniquely designed to efficiently handle the largest concentration of intermodal rail business.

The intermodal yard at Fairview will have seven working tracks and six storage tracks, enough to hold more than 17,000 feet of train. CN will also invest in additional rolling stock.

When the first phase of the terminal becomes operational in 2007, train trips into town will increase.

There will be one or two trips depending on the length of the train – one 0,000 foot train or two 6,000 feet trains – entering and exiting from the south during the first year of operations.

According to the Prince Rupert Port Authority Environmental Screening document, container trains are not expected to pass north of Fairview into town or use the existing CN rail yard along the city’s waterfront.

“The rail lines servicing the site also run along the shoreline and trains will travel to and from Fairview in a southward direction, and will not travel through town,” Reads the report.

In fact, the Prince Rupert CN rail yard, north of Fairview, has been partly decommissioned.

While he was not able to contact a design engineer, Feeny said that if the screening assessment document says the trains won’t be coming into town, then that would be the reality of the situation.
“The EA assessment document is pretty much the bible for the project,” he said.