ALASKA-ALBERTA RAILWAY EYES DECEMBER PREP WORK

The team behind the proposed Alaska to Alberta railway aims to start prep work for construction in December, with a goal of getting the US$17 billion cross-border railroad running by 2025. Sean McCoshen, founder and chairman of the company behind the project, said he has spent US$100 million on studies and engineering reports and has private funds backing the Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corp., or A2A Rail, to start construction. The railway will connect Fort McMurray, in the heart of Alberta's oilsands, with the Alaska Railroad southeast of Fairbanks. The 2,750-kilometre railway would extend U.S. access to Alberta's landlocked energy resources and offer oil-and-gas producers an alternative transportation corridor at a time that pipeline projects linking the isolated area to the west coast have been delayed.