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Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. and joint-venture partner Petroleum Transport Solutions L.L.C. today announced that construction is under way on the Pioneer Project, which involves a $50 million expansion of a Williston Basin transload facility in New Town, N.D., that's served by Canadian Pacific.

To be completed in December, the Pioneer Project includes a double loop track designed to accommodate unit trains carrying up to 120 tank cars and increase crude-oil throughput capacity from 30,000 barrels to up to 80,000 barrels per day.

Crude oil will be transported by CP, continuing a partnership between the Class I, Dakota Plains Holdings and World Fuel Services.

"We look forward to leveraging this expansion and our network to increase the volume of crude moving efficiently into the marketplace and to provide a cost effective way for inbound commodities to reach Bakken production areas," said CP Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jane O'Hagan in a prepared statement, adding that the Class I offers direct service from the Bakken Shale to key North American refining markets.

For more information on CP's growing crude-oil business, follow this link to read an article ("A refined crude strategy") that appears in Progressive Railroading's March issue.

Meanwhile, Twin Eagle Resource Management L.L.C. has entered into an agreement with GT Logistics L.L.C. to exclusively market crude oil rail transloading capacity at the GT OmniPort facility in Port Arthur, Texas.

GT Logistics, which owns and operates the GT OmniPort facility, has constructed and operates a unit train facility that features about eight miles of track, 18 rail-car unloading racks and a two-station barge dock. The facility is served by BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad, and has direct access to the intercoastal waterway.

Twin Eagle subsidiary Enserco Midstream L.L.C. plans to construct four crude oil storage tanks at the GT OmniPort facility that are expected to be operational in the third quarter. The OmniPort is adjacent to Port Arthur refineries that can accommodate 2 million barrels of crude oil per day.