gokeefe wrote:Gilbert B Norman wrote:Independent of any discussion of the Megantic incident, which has its own topic at this Forum, what is the normal routing of oil trains from the Bakken fields to St John, NB?
Likely the routings are different for trains originating on the BNSF than they are for those originating of the SOO.
All BNSF originated traffic ultimately runs over PAR. I believe CSX is an intermediate in addition to NS.
Bakken Oil (North Dakota sourced, light sweet)
-SOO originated oil for Saint John has, to this point, run solely across MM&A.
-BNSF originated oil for Saint John has run mostly* over Pan Am with a BNSF-CSX-PAR-EMRY/NBSR routing. There is no BNSF-NS-PAR routing currently. CN does have fair involvement in this oil, running on a BNSF-CN routing.
*I would say, based on recent reports, that a slight majority of BNSF sourced oil is running across Pan Am, rather than CN, but the gap might be as small as a 55%/45% split...
Tar Sands (Alberta sourced, heavier and dirtier than Bakken)
-I'm not sure but that Irving is refining some of the heavier oil from the Tar Sands fields in Alberta. I believe any and all of this shipping to Saint John follows an all CN routing.