Full Steam Ahead for Alberta Railway Terminal
By Lindsay Morey, Fort Saskatchewan Record,
Regardless of some bumps in the road, Alberta Midland Railway Terminal Ltd. (AMRT) is gearing up to service Alberta’s Industrial Heartland.
The rail storage and mobile repair service is planned to be operational by October 2017 and will offer 16 storage yard tracks and five operating tracks over 21.6 kilometres in Lamont County, north of Highway 15 on Range Road 201, just a mile west of the Pioneer Grain elevator. Construction of the $34-million project began August 2016.
“Despite some weather setbacks, we are now very pleased with our progress,” Darcy Heggie, AMRT president and CEO, said during the company’s annual general meeting in Lamont County on July 26.
“Our contractors are finishing civil work and are now laying track which will allow us to provide our anchor tenant, (Pembina), with rail car storage services by summer’s end. In addition we are set to provide additional storage, trans-loading services, rail services, switching, and project letdown capability by the end of the third quarter,” he added.
Deemed a logistics centre by AMRT, the location was strategically chosen in Lamont as it sits between Edmonton and Winnipeg. It is designed to store up to 850 cars and will provide service to industry customers in the Edmonton region who routinely ship LPG, petroleum products, and plastics.
Lamont County is looking forward to another industrial partner within their boundaries.
“Alberta Midland Railway Terminal is uniquely positioned to provide rail services to industry needing access to the world market, because of their future ability to offer a connection to both CP and CN rail. This development will open the door to many new opportunities, and hopefully will spur new industrial development in the county in the future,” said Lamont’s executive secretary Robyn Singleton.
Having worked with AMRT previously in the County of Lethbridge 11 years ago, Singleton noted the company has been successful in all of their developments and has been impressed with their overall operations to date.
The Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association noted the company will help with the future development in the Heartland.
“AMRT is a welcome addition to the Heartland and will contribute to serve the logistics needs required for further industrial development in the region. The new terminal will ensure that railcar fleets have full access to local storage facilities, effectively reducing rail costs by streamlining logistics planning and improving transportation efficiencies,” said the AIHA in a statement.