CANADIAN National Railway Company (CN) has unveiled plans to construct a C$20 million (US$17.36 million) transload operation and intermodal rail terminal in Prince George, British Colombia.

The new facility will be used for the export of containerised products to and from Asian markets through the new Port of Prince Rupert's rail/maritime intermodal facility.

It will be equipped with an 84,000 square-foot warehouse and 10 acres of outside storage. It is expected to open in autumn 2007. It will load containers with products arriving at the facility by rail or truck. The loaded containers will then be lifted onto flatcars at CN's new rail yard, and daily service will be offered from this terminal to the Port of Prince Rupert.

"The Prince George terminal is an important part of the Pacific Gateway strategy as it will maximize the potential of new port capacity at Prince Rupert," said Peter Marshall, CN senior vice-president for the western region.

Prince George, situated 500 miles east of Prince Rupert, is in close proximity to British Columbia's large fibre reserves and other natural resources. CN's divisional headquarters and main operations hub in northern BC is located in Prince George, a CN statement said.

Scheduled to open in fall of 2007, the Prince Rupert terminal with a phase one capacity of 500,000 TEU, will create a new North American gateway for goods moving to and from Asia and the principal centres of Canada and the United States Midwest and South.