CN to serve another frac sand plant in Wisconsin

CN yesterday announced it will begin serving a new frac sand facility in Wisconsin this month.

Source Energy Services (SES), formerly Canadian Sand and Proppants, is opening a frac sand plant in Weyerhaeuser, Wis., on a CN line in its Barron Subdivision. The plant is projected to initially produce 1.2 million tons of sands, then 2 million tons by third-quarter 2014.

Last year, CN spent $35 million to restore a 40-mile segment of the subdivision between Ladysmith and Poskin, Wis., to better serve the frac sand market.

"CN [also] accelerated work this year on the $33 million rehabilitation of 74 miles of track between Wisconsin Rapids and Blair, Wis. This will increase car-loading capacity and train velocity for the growing frac sand supply chains," said President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Mongeau in a press release. "Over the past five years, CN's frac sand market has grown by nearly 300 percent, rising to more than 50,000 carloads in 2013. Our end-to-end service focus has supported that growth, and we expect to achieve 300 million in frac sand revenue by 2015."

CN currently serves 11 frac sand facilities on its network in Wisconsin. In addition to opening the Weyerhaeuser facility, SES plans to bring on-line the largest frac sand terminal in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Wembley, Alberta, on CN's network near Grande Prairie. The terminal will feature a loop track and on-site storage facilities for 40,000 metric tons of sand.