EDMONTON, (Sept. 9, 2004) — A feasibility study commissioned by the Alberta government says a high-profile plan to build a new rail line and extend highways from Edmonton to the province’s thriving oilsands region in the north has “substantial merit.”

The $2.6-billion “integrated transportation solution” would expand shipping options by improving surface transportation links for the massive amounts of heavy machinery, equipment, and supplies to the rapidly growing oilsands region. Currently most goods are trucked into Fort McMurray and the oilsands along Hwy. 63, creating bottlenecks just north of Edmonton.

The plan would include the new rail line, widening of Hwy. 63, as well as a new ring-road and railway around Fort McMurray and a bridge across the Athabasca river.

Jim Gray, chairman of Athabasca Oil Sands Transportation Corp. — a small consortium created by various oil sand companies to implement the study — told Today’s Trucking this past spring that the transportation proposal includes improvements to “selected parts” of Hwy. 63. “It is calling for a combination of improvements, straightening the existing line out, and there will also be an extension of rail to all the mines,” he said at the time.

There are currently two short-haul railroads that operate north of Edmonton, but neither run all the way to Fort McMurray and do not have the capacity to handle the massive amount of freight expected over the next several decades.

When the study was first announced in March, the government agreed to pay for half the $2.5 million tab, and would wait until the study was complete before committing further.
Alberta Economic Development Minister Mark Norris told Canadian Press recently that the concept is of “great interest” to the province.

The estimated total cost of $2.6 billion would be covered with $2.3 billion in long-term debt and $300 million from the Alberta government. Construction could start next year and be completed in 2008 or 2009.

— with files from Canadian Press