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making a reservation, a passenger will receive an email which can be printed and shown to on-board personnel for passage. Smartphone and tablet users may show the document to trainmen, who can scan the email directly from the passenger’s device.
MASSACHUSETTS STATION UPGRADE: A $17 million federal grant will be applied to- ward the $45 million conversion of Springfield (Mass.) Union Station into a regional inter- modal transportation hub. The main terminal building, built in 1926, will serve two Amtrak routes and will feature 58,000 square feet of retail and office space. The adjacent baggage building will be demolished and replaced with a 23-bay bus terminal for Peter Pan intercity buses and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority local bus lines, along with a 400-slot parking garage. The project should begin next year. The project is related to the New Haven- Hartford-Springfield Rail Project, which will improve track and signals along the 62-mile corridor, upgrade 180 bridges and culverts to accommodate double tracking, and improve 38 grade crossings. A 73-minute schedule between Springfield and New Haven will be facilitated by a 110-m.p.h. top speed by 2015-2016.
Apache Railway
THE END MAY BE NEAR: On August 1, 2012, Catalyst Paper announced its plan to permanently close its recycled paper mill in Snowflake, Ariz., at the end of September, along with its subsidiary, the Apache Railway. Catalyst had acquired the mill and railroad in 2008 and expanded its production to include
Live Alligator Is Sighted in Illinois
THE ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM ran its Green Bay & Western RSD15 No. 2407 on a vin- tage freight train as part of its annual Diesel Days event, which was held on the weekend of July 21 and 22, 2012. The 2400-h.p. Alco began its career as Santa Fe 9841 in 1960 and went to Michi- gan’s Lake Superior & Ishpeming in 1975 before finishing its revenue career with a brief stint on the GB&W. The museum plans to restore the unit to its original Santa Fe appearance.
high-value specialty papers in addition to newsprint. A ten per cent per year drop in de- mand for newsprint, a 63 per cent increase in the price of old (recycled) newsprint (ONP)
since 2009, and the reduced quality of ONP due to single-stream waste recovery have all contributed to the plant’s increased expenses and unprofitability. However, after learning of the plant’s impending demise, the Najafi Com- panies, owner of the Snowflake Biomass power plant located next door to the paper mill, quickly entered into discussions to possibly purchase the mill. The Snowflake Biomass plant is partly fueled by “paper sludge,” a byproduct of the papermaking process. The Apache Railway is known for its fleet of
seven immaculately maintained Alco Century 420s and 424s, which hopefully will find homes with other Alco operators.
Canadian National
MORE CAPACITY TO PRINCE RUPERT: Canadian National has announced that it will build five new 12,000-foot passing tracks in a $155 million project to expand capacity on its route between Edmonton, Alberta, and the port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The railroad says that traffic moving over the route, including coal and other bulk traffic, is expected to double by 2015.
Cartier Railway Bakken Oil Moves To the West Coast
THIS UNIT OIL TRAIN FROM NORTH DAKOTA was headed west at Marshall, Wash., on July 17, 2012. It was delivered to the Great Northwest Railroad for temporary storage until it could be accepted at the Tesoro oil refinery at Anacortes, Wash., which is building an expanded unit train unloading facility. The new terminal will have four 25-car unloading tracks and two 100-car storage tracks, enabling it to unload 200 cars a day after it opens in September. Tesoro plans to process up to 40,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude in place of heavier and more ex- pensive Alaskan crude and has a fleet of 800 tank cars to handle the move.
ORDERS NEW POWER: Arcelor Mittal’s ore-hauling Cartier Railway in eastern Quebec has ordered six SD70ACe’s from Electro-Mo- tive Diesel for delivery next year. For now, the railroad has leased SD9043MAC’s CEFX 105, 114, 110, 119, and 136 from CIT Rail. They were delivered to the Port of Ogdensburg, N.Y., where on July 18 they were loaded onto a ship for movement down the St. Lawrence River to Port Cartier, Quebec.
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BRETT ENGERT
ROBERT JORDAN
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