Riding the rails into Rupert

CN Rail sent a high profile group to Prince Rupert on Tuesday to check out the progress of the container project and make some new contacts in the northwest. CN’s senior vice president Peter Marshall led the railway’s board of directors on a tour of the North West which included a welcoming get together put on by the community.

The delegation arrived on a private rail car, which almost brings back to mind the glory days of the railroad, back when the executives would ride the rails and settle the west.

This expedition was purely informational as the railway board and execs took a look around to check out their investment. They expressed satisfaction with the progress of the container port and said they looked forward to continued growth in the area.

The Daily News presented the details in a front page story on Wednesday.

CN RAIL BRASS IN TOWN TO VISIT ‘HUGE AREA OF GROWTH’
Members of Rail Company’s board marvel at progress at container port
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Pages one and two

The new container port facility is definitely on track, and it’s progress was one reason why many important players from Canadian National Railway (CN) decided to meet in Prince Rupert on Tuesday.

Peter Marshall, senior vice president for CN’s western region, said it was an excellent opportunity for members of CN’s board to get an up-and-close personal look at their northern investment.

“The West Coast and Prince Rupert specifically is a huge area of growth for us, and we’re investing some money in the inter-modal terminal here along with some partners, like Maher Terminals, the provincial and federal governments, the port of Prince Rupert,” said Marshall. “It was important enough that our board of directors felt that they needed to come out and see how things were developing.

“So it’s a great opportunity for them to see what’s going out here in the market place.”

When the community learned that CN was in town, the city of Prince Rupert and all partners involved with the expansion of the port decided to hold a function welcoming CN to the North Coast.

“It was an opportunity that the community brought forward to us knowing that the board was going to be in town for a short period of time, they suggested we take the opportunity to meet with some of the community leaders, the business leaders, and we thought it was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves, and get a little more familiar with each other,” said Marshall.

“There has been a lot of good work and good partnerships that have been developed over the last couple of years on this project. There’s a lot of interest up here, and again, it was good to get together.”

CN hopes to have the majority of the work that it is involved in that is directly affected by the port completed by next spring,” he said.

“We’re getting as much done as we can this year before the construction season is over,” said Marshall. “The cranes and the container handling equipment will be coming in next summer for an expected opening of next October 2007.

The upgrade to the rail line is almost complete as well, said Marshall.

“We have moderate upgrades … not to the rail line itself, but we have a little bit of work to do on the tunnels so we can handle double-stack containers,” he said.

“We are investing in some siding extensions between here and Prince George, and some other upgrades to the rail line between here and McBride.

“It’s a long way to take containers from Prince Rupert to Chicago, so there’ s a little bit of work we’re doing on the railway.”

There had been reports in Alberta publications that there was some concern that Asian companies feared Rupert’s port wouldn’t be big enough for the shipments, but Marshall said that the majority of their conversations with their Asian partners have been positive.

“We’re very confident this port facility is going to be well-utilized from the outset,” he said. “There are plans down the road for phase two, if phase one goes as well as we expect it to.”

With potential port growth, future planned projects like a break bulk facility and sulphur shipping can also take place, said Marshall.

And the relationship with Prince Rupert Grain also continues to grow.

“Prince Rupert Grain has done an outstanding job this year,” he said.
“They’ve continued to demonstrate that they’re an efficient handler of grain and grain products, and we are able to ship whatever they can handle through this port.”

***Correction***
September 22, 2006

The Daily News story CN brass in town to visit "huge area of growth" (Sept. 20) gave the impression that the community hosted a reception in honour of CN Rail. In fact the rail company hosted the event at the museum and invited members of the community to attend. The Daily news regrets any confusion our story may have caused.