The Oil by Rail Option, CN builds infrastructure for the future

While it's still but a rumour for the North Coast, the concept of shipping oil by rail has been around for a fair amount of time now and CN which serves the Port of Prince Rupert is quite involved in the process, all be it shipping Alberta's raw resources south to Louisiana.

CN recently outlined the current levels of shipment by the rail road to a recently expanded terminal in Louisiana, a process which has seen the rail road increase its movements of crude.

When CN first started their oil by rail transportation system they were unloading roughly  5,000 carloads of oil per year, that has expanded to some 30,000 carloads last year, with plans to double that number in 2013.

Towards that goal, CN is developing new markets through it's southern gateway.

CN's Vice President Jean-Jacques Ruest review can be found on the Business News Network's web portal, as Mr. Ruest  outlined the scope of the infrastructure investment that CN has taken on thus far.

BNN also featured a number of reviews of the Pros and Cons of shipping oil by rail, which you can view here and here.

It could be an instructive to the discussion on the North Coast, should the prospect of shipping Crude Oil through the Northwest ever become part of the conversation in British Columbia.

Recently, Industrialist David Black offered up the idea that his proposed Kitimat Oil Refinery could make use of rail to transport Alberta bitumen to his terminal.

We've featured the topic before on the blog some of our items of note on the topic can be found below:

February 1-- The next battle over Bitumen?
November 17-- Alaska to Alberta rail option could have an impact on Port of Prince Rupert