Rail would link Alaska-Yukon metals, coal

The Yukon Department of Economic Development still doesn’t have many details on a proposed Alaska-Canada rail link, despite a year-long feasibility study of the project, said Deputy Minister Eugene Lysy.

All that has been released to the public so far is a six-page index outlining approximately 225 documents related to the study. The index of the $5.5 million joint Alaska-Yukon study was provided to the media by project manager Kells Boland on July 4.

Boland said the proposed route of the rail link is T-shaped, with the Yukon Village of Carmacks becoming a hub in the system. The three-pronged line would see a branch going south to New Hazelton in British Columbia to connect to a Canadian National railhead. The second segment would head north to Delta Junction in Alaska, while the third would go to the Inside Passage, connecting to either Skagway or Haines.

Boland said that the line will be based around the Yukon’s and Alaska’s metals, coal and iron industries, rather than the proposed natural gas pipeline.

“The pipeline market is for two or three years. The mineral market is for a much longer period,” he said. “Coal and iron ore will not go ahead without a railway. The others will benefit once that railway is in place.”

—The Associated Press