TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s largest rail transporter Canadian National Railway (CN) on Wednesday announced that it would accelerate the $33-million upgrade of its Whitehall subdivision, in Wisconsin, to increase car-loading capacity and train velocity for the growing hydraulic fracturing (frac) sand supply chains that transport the product of Badger Mining, Preferred Sands of Wisconsin, Atlas Resin Proppants and Taylor Frac.

The expansion programme would allow for heavier-loaded frac sand freight cars, weighing up to 129 727 kg, to use the line, which would result in increased volumes per car, generating increased productivity for customer car fleets, and increasing train speeds for CN.

CN will upgrade the 120 km section of the Whitehall subdivision between Wisconsin Rapids and Blair within three years, rather than four, to achieve quicker customer gains. Work started in 2012 and the full programme should be completed by December 2014.

"We are investing in increased rail capacity on the Whitehall subdivision to help move more frac sand and to develop a more robust supply chain for our customers in Wisconsin to connect with the oil and gas shale basins in North America,” CN executive VP and chief marketing officer Jean-Jacques Ruest said.

Frac sand is used by the oil and gas industries in the hydraulic fracturing process to hold shale fractures open and let natural gas and oil flow out.

"We have significantly increased the frac sand production capacity at our Taylor, Wisconsin, facility, and CN's Whitehall subdivision improvement will enhance our ability to efficiently move this production to both existing and new customers and markets.

“Badger has long understood the benefits gained from using rail to reach markets when compared with other modes of transportation: larger volumes, improved transit times, greater cost efficiencies and improved safety,” Badger Mining executive VP Stephen Hart added.

CN transports about C$250-billion of goods a year for various business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network spanning Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico.