Railway Transportation

[gunner3006]

Hey guys. Thought I would fire up a conversation about the railway vs pipeline ordeal we seem to be a part of. I believe GRANDE PRAIRIE is in a bit of a bubble when it comes to the patch, work and resources. I live in Wembly and work all over in and around Grande Prairie. I have noticed a recent increase in railway work. 3 spurs that I’m aware of have been built in the last year and half in the heart of oil and gas country. Farm produce has been moved by train for as long as I have been alive. My question is, do really care how our product gets to market? I believe a pipeline makes more sense but in the end do we really care? Money is money.

 

[Caper11]

Hey guys. Thought I would fire up a conversation about the railway vs pipeline ordeal we seem to be a part of. I believe GRANDE PRAIRIE is in a bit of a bubble when it comes to the patch, work and resources. I live in Wembly and work all over in and around Grande Prairie. I have noticed a recent increase in railway work. 3 spurs that I’m aware of have been built in the last year and half in the heart of oil and gas country. Farm produce has been moved by train for as long as I have been alive. My question is, do really care how our product gets to market? I believe a pipeline makes more sense but in the end do we really care? Money is money.

Rail lines are another bottleneck and the product can sit on the tracks before its delivered. The oil company is at the mercy of the rail company and it also effects the bottom line of a barrel of oil due to the shipping fees.

Once a new pipeline is flooded that project is close to being paid for, so there is a higher rate of return.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Yes rail is far less efficient cost wise than pipelines so affects the price realized by producers, but better to be able to move product at a lower price than not at all. I know Suncor saw this situation coming because they had a project started 2 years ago to increase the capacity of their rail/ship loading terminal on the coast.

 

[gunner3006]

I agree. We already own a pipeline remember. We baught in the summer. Crickets. Nothing. There is not one form of gas flowing thru it. There is nothing about railways that makes sense. It’s ass backwards. On one hand there talking about climate change an on the other hand there pushing railway transport. What gives. Wanna ship to the USA. Tell buffet to put another few trains on the track. But don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. This is a higher power with big big money backing it. I think Notley forgets she’s really a nobody in the oil and gas world.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Welcome to the world of bull**** politics where idealism has to be balanced with reality. I think the libs bought KM just so they can stall and delay till after the election, in the meantime they can either claim they are "moving it forward" or "defering it pending proper reviews" depending on the audience.

 

[Mike270412]

What if Warren Buffett and Bill Gates own the oil? It's a win/win situation for them. Buy it in Alberta for cheap, put it on their trains,haul it to the coast and sell for (insert Doctor Evil) SIX...BILLION...DOLLARS!

 

[pfi572]

Political grandstanding is all this rail crap is .
I don’t believe the province has any intention of it .

 

[takethebounce]

The bottle neck and reliability of the Rail company was already mentioned but more than likely it would be Crash National contracted to haul those rail cars to the coast. It will only take one derailment of those tankers to end that pipe dream.

 

[Mike270412]

The bottle neck and reliability of the Rail company was already mentioned but more than likely it would be Crash National contracted to haul those rail cars to the coast. It will only take one derailment of those tankers to end that pipe dream.

There's derailments every day (not necessarily oil tanks,but cars come off the tracks) Big rail money is pretty good at keeping them off the news.

 

[sirkdev]

It is crazy to presume that rail could replace pipelines. Look at the amount of incidents per m3 of fluid moved. A few rail disasters that come to mind are Lac Magantic, Wabamun,Gainford and the list goes on. The problem is when an incident happens with rail it’s likely going to be in a populated area. Pipelines not so much. Even considering rail is ridiculous in my opinion, however our saviour Warren Buffet who owns a significant portion of CNR will be happy to take our business after him and his cigar smokin friends in the US supported the the lobbyists to shut down “dirty oil.” The whole thing is crooked and corrupt.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-Mégantic_rail_disaster

 

[eclipse1966]

IMO worst idea out there (from my point of view anyway). As a regular client for both CN and CP rail its hard to believe they will be able to get their &hit together and run it like it should be as they are horrible at everything they currently do and they haven't even put the additional 7000 cars and 80 locomotives on the tracks yet. Also, this will "fix" one problem and create another problem as the farming industry is going to face a lot of hardship when they cant move their harvest like it was 3 years ago. Canada's transportation system has been going down hill in the past 10 or more years add to the fact the huge shortage of trucks.

 

[gunner3006]

I talked to two farmers yesterday. Both just north of grande prairie. Elevators haven’t even shipped October contracts. Way behind. Can you imagine what it would be like will oil.

 

[takethebounce]

There's derailments every day (not necessarily oil tanks,but cars come off the tracks) Big rail money is pretty good at keeping them off the news.

Trust me I know, I worked for CP. Amazing what they’ve been able to keep off the news.

But a tanker of bitumen even if not even related to anything anywhere and having nothing to do with it going to the coast would have greenies all over it.

 

[eclipse1966]

exactly! No better in the US either. Minimum 2 months to get a car spotted.

I talked to two farmers yesterday. Both just north of grande prairie. Elevators haven’t even shipped October contracts. Way behind. Can you imagine what it would be like will oil.

 

[Cdnfireman]

The railways are in almost the same situation as the oil companies. Their infrastructure is old, tired and at or over capacity with no ability to build new rail lines. Imagine what the greenies would do if CN and CP wanted to build new tracks across the country? They’d be shut down just as fast as the pipelines.

 

[whoDEANie]

I talked to two farmers yesterday. Both just north of grande prairie. Elevators haven’t even shipped October contracts. Way behind. Can you imagine what it would be like will oil.

My understanding is that we're already having issues due to oil cars taking precedence over grain cars. It will just get worse.

 

[NoBrakes!]

twin the rail lines... anybody look at the proposed oil only rail line up to Valdez with almost 0 BC involvement

 

[pfi572]

The railways are in almost the same situation as the oil companies. Their infrastructure is old, tired and at or over capacity with no ability to build new rail lines. Imagine what the greenies would do if CN and CP wanted to build new tracks across the country? They’d be shut down just as fast as the pipelines.

It’s weird but I believe the rail companies own the land that tracks are built on .
They can do whatever they dam well pls is my understanding.
If they where smart they would build a P/L beside rail line and charge for its use ?

 

[Cableguy]

I like how your thinking leave it above ground and pump that ****e

It’s weird but I believe the rail companies own the land that tracks are built on .
They can do whatever they dam well pls is my understanding.
If they where smart they would build a P/L beside rail line and charge for its use ?

 

[sirkdev]

Ah.. no.. can you imagine a derailment and the aftermath.. no thanks underground pipe is the answer.