KAMLOOPS HAS JUST BECOME the pinch point for moving coal from the coal mines of the Elk Valley in southern B.C., to the coal port at Roberts Bank in Delta. Last week, CN announced that it had won the contract to ship coal from Kamloops to the port.  But the coal still goes by rail on CP track from Elkford and Sparwood, through Golden to Kamloops. Previously the coal went all the way to Vancouver with CP locomotives. Now, the coal cars have to switch over from the CP rail lines to the CN tracks in Kamloops. Moving coal is huge. Currently 10 per cent of all freight CP hauls in western Canada is coal.  The busiest rail lines in Western Canada is between Calgary and Kamloops, in no small part because of coal. Suddenly, a massive number of trains will be running on the track from the CP yard in South Kamloops, across Lorne Street, then across 7th Avenue at Pioneer Park. Then the trains will head over the train bridge onto Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc where they will cross over Chilcoton Road, George Campbell Way, and a number of private crossings. One in 10 trains that were previously going … Continue reading BEPPLE – CN’s new coal contract presents challenges for Kamloops