Re: "An idea from B.C.'s past could change its future," July 29.
Jim Hume mentions transporting Alberta's oilsands product by rail to Prince Rupert for shipment to Asia by tanker.
Eight hundred tank cars per day would equal the capacity of Enbridge's proposed pipeline. That would be 10 trains per day, each way. The cost of using rail is about $5 per barrel more than pipeline costs, partly due to the greater number of employees required to run a railroad.
Canadian National has an established right-of-way and could start shipping oil as soon as loading facilities are built in Prince Rupert. A tank car costs less than $120,000; 2,000 tank cars would be an investment of $240 million, considerably less than a $5.5-billon pipeline.
This rail money would be spent over several years as the market matures, instead of requiring the whole investment up front before the first barrel is delivered.
Ivan Ward-Moran
Campbell River
