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With $60 million in federal and provincial funding in hand, Canadian National Railway Co., Maher Terminals of Canada Corp. and the Prince Rupert Port Authority are preparing to start construction on an intermodal terminal at the northern British Columbia port.

CN’s board recently approved a plan to increase the Class I’s funding for the terminal from $15 million to $30 million. The railroad will spend $15 million on an intermodal yard at the port, $10 million on trackwork and $5 million on infrastructure improvements to its northern B.C. line to accommodate double-stack container moves.

Maher Terminals plans to spend $60 million to install three container cranes and container handling equipment at the terminal. The port will spend $25 million to help develop the container facility.

Expected to be complete in first-quarter 2007, the terminal’s first phase calls for building a facility with an annual capacity of 500,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The terminal eventually will be expanded to handle 2 million TEUs annually.

“CN's network will offer fast access from Prince Rupert to the key markets of Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and Memphis,” said CN President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison in a prepared statement.