Alaska Railroad expansion from Moose Creek to Tanana Flats eyed
Army project on hold
Published Sunday, April 20, 2008
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Stumble It!The Alaska Railroad Corp. is making plans to build rail from Moose Creek to the Tanana Flats using money originally set aside to realign rail on Fort Wainwright, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens announced Saturday.
The Fort Wainwright project will be put on hold, pleasing critics who say it undermines separate plans to move all train traffic out of downtown Fairbanks and to the south.
The project on the Army base won’t move forward until the controversy is resolved, Stevens said at a news conference in Fairbanks.
“We hope we can get the people in Fairbanks together on where (the rail) should be relocated,” Stevens said. “It’s something that has to be resolved at home before we can get any more money.”
The $110 million expansion to the Tanana Flats would allow the U.S. Army year-round access to its training area, Stevens said.
The Army can use the training area only a few months of the year by driving its vehicles over the frozen Tanana River, officials said. The federally funded project would allow the Army to move its vehicles by rail.
Extending rail into the Tanana Flats is a step toward realizing Stevens’ goal to lay rail to Canada, the senator said.
“I have a dream that once we get the railroad to the Tanana Valley flats, we can get it to Fort Greely,” Stevens said.
The project would entail building a railroad bridge over the Tanana River either near Harding Lake or near the Salcha Fairgrounds, said John Binkley, chairman of the Alaska Railroad Corp.
“We at the railroad think that it's an excellent idea,” Binkley said. “It puts aside the issue of what’s the best route for Fairbanks. The important task is to get access to that training area.”
Only the realignment on Fort Wainwright is stalled, Binkley added. Other railroad projects are still going forward.
“We’re still moving forward with the realignment around the city of North Pole,” he said.
The Rail Safety and Development Group is an collection of community members who lobbied against the Fort Wainwright project. Members reached Saturday were gratified by Stevens’ announcement.
“We were afraid that the relocation and upgrade of the Eielson Spur on Fort Wainwright would be to the detriment of ever getting a comprehensive rail bypass,” said John Phillips, the Fairbanks city engineer from 1977 to 1988.
“This being put on hold is good news,” former Fairbanks North Star Borough Assemblyman Hank Bartos said. “I think that they still need to study the southern bypass and get the railroad traffic out of downtown Fairbanks.”
Community Discussion
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There is only one concern that I see regarding the downtown realignment that leads into Ft. Wainwright, the sound. If they raise the tracks, which I have heard has been suggested, the sound will be all over town. They need to consider some kind of sound barrier, either natural or man made walls. In the winter time you can hear the trains when the ice fog holds down the sound and as they re route the tracks it would be a great idea to work on this issue at the same time.
BERING STRAIGHT TUNNEL
When I served on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly I offered a simple resolution to extend the Alaska Railroad to Nome. After that the assembly sent me to the Canadian - Alaskan rail conference that was in British Columbia. At this conference I met a Seattle based transportation consultant Hal Cooper. Here are some updated links to the Bering Straight Tunnel.
Michael S. Young, FNSB Assemblyman (Retired)
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Bering Straight Tunnel -Infrastructure Corridors Will Transform Economy
by Richard Freeman and Dr. Hal Cooper
The adoption and construction of the Bering Strait rail and tunnel project is the focus of a Schiller Institute conference in Kiedrich, Germany on Sept. 15-16, 2007 bringing together international experts and political activists to mobilize for this program, which will bring about a technological upshift in the economy globally.
It would replace the world’s slow, outmoded, and vastly overburdened sea-rail routes with a geodesic high-speed-rail route.
Click here for rest of article..
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/0...
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Russia Announces World's Longest Tunnel Should be Built to Alaska
April 19, 2007 (EIRNS)--Viktor Razbegin, Deputy Head of Industrial Research of the Russian Economy Ministry, announced to reporters in Moscow April 18, 2007 that a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait, to Alaska, would be built. It is part of a $65 billion project to supply electricity from Siberia. Russian officials will formally present the plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments next week, Razbegin said.
According to Razbegin, Russia and the U.S. may each take 25% stakes, and the governments will act as guarantors for private money, Razbegin said.
The World Link will save North America and Far East Russia $20 billion/yr. on electricity costs, according to Vasily Zubakin, deputy CEO of OAO Hydro OGK, a potential investor, because "It's cheaper to transport electricity east, and with our unique tidal resources [plants] the potential is real." The project envisions building high-voltage power lines with a capacity of up to 15 gigawatts to supply the new rail links and also export to North America. Cargo traffic of as much as 100 million tons annually is expected on the World Link, such that the $15 billion investment in the rail portion of the project could be paid off in 20 years, Zubakin said, explaining, "The transit link is that string on which all our industrial cluster projects could hang.".....................
For a complete series of these articles please click here....
http://www.larouchepac.com/packages/beri...
Would like to know if these tracks can also be used by passenger trains? If they can wouldn't it be nice if we could have an old time or even modern train take people back and forth to work and North Pole tourism. They could build a small depot. I've been to Atlanta, GA and Washington DC where there are many who use the trains.
I don't know alot about train tracks to know if it's feasible.
And as far as noise from trains, I grew up in a house that a track ran through the back yard the trains would put me to sleep and after we moved away I've missed that sound.
Building a railroad out into the Tanana flats has many problems. Two of which are: a) wet swampy ground is hard to build on and is VERY expensive. b) WE all know that trains are real hard on wintering moose populations. Building a railroad through winter moose habitat should be avoided. Following the Richardson high route to the East of Fairbanks is better in the long run. The Army could use an amphibian method to access the Tannana Flats and cross the river.....Hovercraft...even helicopter is much cheaper.....but less grandiose.
The meat value to Alaskans of the moose harvested in the Tanana is worth several million dollars annualy, and is renewable. Wise planing to reduce impacts to other values needs to be considered with these kinds of projects.
The railroad is willing to reroute out of North Pole, but it doesn't want to reroute south of Fairbanks? What's wrong with this picture?
Let's review the scorecard:
1. A proposal is put forth to bypass most of Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright and eliminate most, if not all, railroad crossings on the Richardson. That proposal called for running tracks up the center of the Mitchell Expressway from west Fairbanks to the Richardson. People fought vigorously against the proposal. Today, trains still run where they have for decades.
2. A community, where thousands of people work and live, has trains carrying hazardous materials (i.e., petroleum products) routinely meandering through the community. That community's leaders get approved funding to have the tracks moved away from the community's residential and work areas. The people in a neighboring community object vigorously, causing the funds to get pulled. For now, the trains, with their potentially lethal cargo, will continue to travel near the hospital, schools, homes, and offices in that community. (For those who need it spelled out, this community is Fort Wainwright and the protesting community is Fairbanks.)
3. Today, a proposal is announced to divert the funds yanked from 2 (above) to create a spur to the east and south of Moose Creek. And, today, the objections have already started.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that every time a proposed railroad improvement is shot down by local objections and protests, the next proposal moves farther away from Fairbanks? I think if we protest loud enough and long enough all the railroad improvements will happen in Mat-Su and Anchorage.
It's especially worth noting the current proposal leaves all railroad operations from Nenana to well east of North Pole unchanged. Trains will continue to run the same as they do today for at least the next decade or so.
Personally, I'm amazed Senator Stevens has been able to get the funds divert to a project so close to the original proposal. Normally, funds for a cancelled or postponed project such as the Fort Wainwright realignment revert to the general fund and are used elsewhere. Senator Stevens and the Army leadership must have really had "their ducks in a row" to swing this before someone in the Lower 48 could grab the funds.
JB - the noise should be the least of your concerns. Watch the trains sometime and count the number of tankers cars carrying highly volatile jet fuel through the middle of Fairbanks. It wouldn't take much of an accident to block off the entire Johannson shopping district from the rest of Fairbanks.
Let's look at the current proposal:
The extension to Army training areas eliminates a seasonal barrier that hampered the Army's ability to train. Improvements in training efficiency means less cost for the Army, which translates into savings for the U.S. taxpayer.
Likewise, an extension to Fort Greely reduces Army transportation costs. Such an extension also provides transportation alternatives for the people in and around Delta Junction. In particular, it makes it much, much easier to move Delta grain to the shipping terminal in Seward.
The Fort Greeley extension moves the railroad that much closer to a Canadian intertie. Such an intertie, in turn, would reduce the cost of shipping things to Alaska and make it easier to ship Alaska products to the Lower 48.
Now, this is pure conjecture but I'm willing to bet the proposed extension passes very close to the hills south of the Tanana Flats. I'm also willing to bet the result is a very favorable position for running a railroad link along those hills to Nenana or even to somewhere south of Nenana. Surprise!! A southern bypass that avoids Fairbanks completely. (Trains to Fairbanks would then approach from the east rather than the south.)
reakoff - I seriously doubt the Army training grounds are located in swampy areas. (The expense due to more lost and damaged equipment would be prohibitive.) Their current problems are probably due to having to cross the flats to get to their training areas located on higher ground on the far side of the flats. If the proposed extension follows higher ground on upriver parts of the Tanana, the swampy areas could be avoided almost completely.
Alaska Railroad owned by the State of Alaska. Has to get federal funds to construct a line extension when a similar bill is killed in the Alaska Legislature this year. HUM-M-M
Sounds like we have some regional politics going on in Juneau. Wonder if we can ax the Alaska marine ferry system in Southeast when the time comes. :-)
This Tanana Flats extension, as well as the scuttled Fort Wainwright realignment, are projects intended to improve U.S. Army safety and effectiveness. Makes sense for the federal government to fund projects that primarily serve a federal agency.
I don't know anything about the bill in the Alaska Legislature, but would guess it failed due to all the protests against railroad proposals in this area.
Young, I'd love to see such a project, but I don't think it'll happen in either of our lifetimes. It's simply not cost-effective. Yeah, it could be done, and it'd be really cool, but any bridge/tunnel structure wouldn't get enough use to be worthwhile.
Okay, looks like townie input here so far. On Mar 6th, we had a public mtg in Salcha, where there was the announcement that the Tanana crossing was going to be at the general area of the Salcha Fairgrounds.
http://www.akrr.com/arrc295.html The public handout is still there; on Map 4 of the Delta segment at www.northernrailextension.com, you will also see this crossing.
What bugs me is Binkley also including the crossing at Harding Lake (Flag Hill), when there has been a drilling crew present at the abovementioned site. What the heck? About 4 years ago, Dr Paul Metz of UA thought the maps were marked prematurely; so what's Binkley thinking? You would've thought at our community meeting and seeing the core crew out there that this is now set in stone; all they needed was the cores out of that area to engineer the supports for the bridge! Of course he wasn't there. (roll eyes)
Anyway, the reason (in part) you are seeing this change in priority is that the Army got earmarked $44M+ to get this bridge done, so the State has to come up with funding the rest of the rail from the Chena Flood project at Moose Creek bluff to said crossing.
In the meanwhile, we have a few questions we're persuing in the background with our own legislators and other parties involved, just as the rest of you are. Hopefully what we might learn in the long run will be helpful to others; I've been following this for a few years now, as have some of you.
Yota99714 - Thank you for that information and especially the links.
It sounds to me like you're trying to help this project proceed in the best possible fashion, unlike some people who simply dig in the their heels and scream, "No!"
I'm a little unclear as to what you're saying about the Salcha crossing versus the Flag Hill crossing. I know engineers often drill core samples in a lot of areas to help determine the best options. Are they also drilling cores in the Flag Hill area?
Also, I'm not quite sure what you were referring to when you mentioned Dr Metz. Could you clarify?
Again, thanks for the links to the maps.
Hi Griff,
I just try and get the info out there; not everyone has Internet access in our community, in spite of how this project will affect them. Our effort has been to ensure AKRR, the contractor HDR, and others also utilize mailings to reach us. And no, you can't make everyone happy when you are working on projects of this scale.
Over the past couple summers, there has been core sampling coming from the south, but I'm unsure as to how far they've gotten. The AKRR's concern is with the terrain challenges with the East route segment you would see on the maps. Flag Hill is the only 'good' source of shot rock in our area, and it's actually considered that shot rock from Cantwell would be brought up to use to develop the approaches, so this was a bit of a surprise to us when the meeting showed where it looked like they wanted to cross.
Either way, some interaction with landowners will take place as the rail turns to cross either the Tanana-- or the Salcha, if the east segment is found to be a better base instead.
Dr Metz is (was?) with the Geo-whiz at the U. He was initially involved quite a few years ago doing a geological survey of the route; you will see old rights of way covenants in the records out our way, when the route was broad-brushed for the rail back in the '70's, so this is nothing new. He has walked every foot of this with his interns to collect data, but is but a cog in the wheel now. I've had the pleasure of speaking with him during AKRR open house sessions, but things have moved on, like the coring activity we've been seeing the past couple of years.
Yer welcome, and I hope that helps a bit.
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