Public Relations and
Advertising Department
Windsor Station Montreal Que. H3C
3E4
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Volume
10 Number 2
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February 6,
1980
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Ambitious Projects
Completed at
$30 Million Cost
By Charles Gordon
High View: Agile photographer
Nicholas Moran put his climbing equipment on to take this shot on a snowy
January day. The westbound train is shown going around the Big Loop near
Notch Hill.
Two ambitious
projects on the Calgary-Vancouver mainline have been
completed, at a cost of $30 million.
A four and a half mile section of new track west of Revelstoke, B.C., and
an 11-mile section between Tappen and Notch Hill, west of
Salmon Arm were completed in December.
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Passing By:
A westbound train passes its own cars on the Big Loop near Notch
Hill. At this point, the engine is about 300 yards from the car in
the foreground.
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The projects were undertaken to improve the flow of higher volumes of
freight traffic moving to the west coast.
A 109-car train, Extra 5849 going west from Revelstoke,
became the first official train to travel both sections of the new track
Dec. 7. Engineman J. Misuraca and conductor E. Tucker were aboard.
The sections are part of a total of four projects in progress or planned
at separate locations along the mainline where
westward-ascending grades are greater than the maximum one
percent found elsewhere on the line.
The new Revelstoke-Clanwilliam line sees completion of one
of the most difficult engineering projects faced by CP Rail in recent
years. Part of the new trackage goes through what was once an almost
impenetrable swamp.
The railway spent more than $2 million on a process called
electro-osmosis to drain the swamp and to change the course
of a wandering creek to permit construction of a solid track bed.
The longer Tappen-Notch Hill section involves installation
of some 35,000 ties. 50,000 cubic yards of ballast, 55 tons of spikes,
and 2,600 tons of 1,440-foot long strips of continuous
welded rail.
The multi-year program to increase the railway's mainline
capacity is highlighted by an ambitious 19-mile-long second
phase, now in the advanced stages of technical and economic evaluation.
Expected to cost close to $200 million, the project will likely include
an 8.9-mile tunnel, 250 feet below the Connaught Tunnel
which now carries the CP Rail mainline under Rogers Pass.
"These improvement projects are part of an overall recognition of
Canada's increasing trade with Pacific Rim countries", said W.W.
Stinson, executive vice-president, CP Rail. "The
improved ability of Canadian producers to place their products at
tidewater will help towards achievement of a more favorable balance of
trade".
DOUBLE-TRACKING
Completion of all four grade revision and double-tracking
projects will mean daily handling capacity will be increased from 15 to
19 trains in each direction. Each train will be able to handle more
tonnage, which will translate into a capacity increase of more than 45
percent.
In addition, fewer locomotives will be required on each train, resulting
in more fuel efficiency.
"As it stands right now, we have ample capacity for the tonnage we
are being called on to handle, but there's no doubt that if we left the
existing situation untouched, continuing tonnage growth would eventually
bring us to the saturation point", said J.D. Bromley,
vice-president of CP Rail's Pacific Region.
"What we're working on today is a program to ensure we have
sufficient main track capacity for tomorrow".
This CP Rail News
article is copyright 1980 by Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted
here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are
the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
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