20 April 2005
On Track to Improve
Rails
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Canadian Pacific Railway president
and CEO Rob Ritchie smiles during a press conference in Salmon Arm Monday
afternoon to announce $160 million in rail expansion plans for B.C. and
Alberta.
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As Southeast Asia booms across
the Pacific, the sound of its economic engine is reverberating off the valley walls along CPR mainline
between Kamloops and Salmon Arm.
Rob Ritchie, Canadian Pacific president and CEO, announced a $160-million track expansion
initiative Monday in Kamloops and Salmon Arm to free up bottlenecks along its major routes in British
Columbia and Alberta.
Ritchie specifically discussed improvements to CPR mainline east of Kamloops.
The investment will increase the railway's capacity in Western Canada by 12 percent when finished
later this year. Improvement made to local stretches of rail include train crossovers at Tranquille,
Geddis, double-track extensions east of Pritchard, west at Notch Hill, and west from
Tumtum to Clanwilliam.
A specialized coal dust suppression station was also constructed between Chase and Salmon Arm. The
structure is designed to spray coal cars at timed intervals as they pass beneath, minimizing health
and environmental impact from particulate.
Federal and provincial government transportation and resource policy environments combined with Asia's
voracious appetite for raw materials contributed to CPR going ahead with the track growth.
With Elk Valley Coal Corporation - CPR's largest customer - just getting the ink dry on a
five-year contract with the railway and plans to increase potash production by a total
of 2.6 million tonnes per year, the expansion will also benefit domestic markets.
George Abbott, Minister of Sustainable Resource Management, and Liberal MLA for Shuswap, said
increased rail volume will help service 13 major new mines in the process of opening in B.C.
"This is a signal of confidence in the continued growth of the British Columbia economy. We have
seen a tremendous resurgence in mining... we're going to need rail capacity to get minerals from those
mines out to our international markets."
With the election writ expected to be dropped yesterday by the B.C. Liberals, Calvin White, provincial
NDP candidate for Shuswap, questioned the timing of Ritchie's announcement from behind the CPR station
fence in Salmon Arm Monday afternoon. "The decision had nothing to do with the fact the election
is going to be called [Tuesday]?" White queried.
Ritchie smiled good naturedly and said "we had to wait to get bill C-44
(transportation sector bill) in place, which came in a week-and-a-half go. "We had
to get the Elk Valley contract, which was done four or five days ago - we made the decision on Friday
[to announce the expansion]. Once you make a decision like that you have to let it out fast. Because
it has an impact on stock. "The fact you have to get this done before the writ is dropped, that
is probably an issue too. "You'd like to get [the announcement] out before [the politicians and
candidates] get out into [the election]."
Ritchie had spoken early Monday morning at a China trade conference in Vancouver, and said the CPR
wanted the news out to let people know the port of vancouver will be strong gateway for Pacific Rim
resources.
Ritchie was confident in economic growth for Western Canada for at least the next five to 10 years.
"People don't look much farther ahead than that," he said.
Ritchie said Asian trade and economic representatives at the conference expressed concern in transport
capacities. "There is a concern on infrastructure across North America - particularly the West
Coast - people are looking at plans are in place to improve that infrastructure."
Ritchie spoke about plans for a container sorting facility in the Kamloops area when asked for comment
by Kamloops This Week. "I just heard that. I hadn't been made [previously] aware of that - they
are looking at an Interior containment terminal on the mainlines. Obviously they'd like to handle both
CN and CPR. So somewhere between Kamloops and Monte Creek is where they are looking at right now.
"They haven't got a site picked - although there are a few MLAs who have good ideas."
Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger said he had previous conversations with
transportation Minister Kevin Falcon regarding the container facility. "I urged [Falcon] to
choose Kamloops for an inland port, to sort containers and take some of the pressure off Vancouver and
Prince Rupert. A sorting facility in Kamloops makes sense for the CPR, and it makes sense for British
Columbia. "Kamloops is the most logical place in Western Canada for an inland port of this
nature."
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