Another Recent Capacity Addition of Note is Renamed

[Anonymous]

MONTREAL (CP) - Canadian National Railway has renamed its underwater rail tunnel between Ontario and Michigan after Paul Tellier, its chief executive from 1992 to 2002.

The Paul M. Tellier Tunnel extends 1,868 metres under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich. It opened in 1995 as the St. Clair Tunnel. The tunnel's 8.4-metre interior diameter can accommodate doublestack container trains, multi-level auto carriers and other large loads.

It significantly reduces transit times for rail traffic that previously had to be barged across the river, as well as for container traffic between Halifax and Chicago.

Hunter Harrison, who succeeded Tellier as CN president and chief executive officer, praised Tellier.

"Paul Tellier realized his vision for CN as a truly North American transportation company by completing the tunnel and successfully extending the railroad's reach into the U.S," Harrison said Tuesday.

During Tellier's tenure, CN acquired the Illinois Central and Wisconsin Central railroads to turn the Canadian transcontinental railway into a North American one.

Last year, transborder traffic generated 34 per cent of CN's total revenue of $5.9 billion Cdn.

[Junctionfan]

I don't know why that tunnel wasn't double tracked. If you ever go down to Sarnia, you can see that there is another tunnel there. I don't know the condition but my guess would be that with some widening and dredging, that thing could be operational again. They need it because alot of the trains get stuck either on the U.S side or the Canadian side and often sit for a long time. Heard some CN crews complain about it.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The original St. Clair tunnel was abandoned due to its tight clearances. It was bored using the shield method in the 1890's and is lined by curved steel plates since it was not bored through rock. Consequently, the tight clearances are permanent and a new tunnel was bored to provide more generous clearances.

Double-tracking of the current tunnel is not practicable and would require drilling another tunnel.

[Junctionfan]

They should have doubled it when they started the new one. Oh well.....not my railroad.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

They should have doubled it when they started the new one. Oh well.....not my railroad.

Yes, but it all comes down to money and cash.

They aren't going to spend the extra bucks if they don't have too, and at the time it probably didn't look like a necessary thing to do.

They can still go back to barging (though less efficient) if there was some major congestion there at peak periods.

[rrnut282]

I haven't been there, so I have a question or two. What's the ru***o run through the tunnel and the need for a double main? Don't they have to stop for customs clearance on one side or the other which can take hours? Or do they have everything pre-cleared so they don't have to stop? Tunnels are VERY expensive, so unless they stack up like cord-wood and plug the main, justifying the expense is hard.