ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Railroad is joining in an effort to acquire $100 million in federal infrastructure funding to build a new 18-mile spur to serve a liquefied natural gas plant near Anchorage.
The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reports the Matanuska Susitna Borough, Fairbanks North Star Borough, and Interior Gas Utility are also part of the effort to build the spur to the Titan gas plant near Port MacKenzie. Total cost of the project is estimated at $203.9 million, but if the federal funding is approved, the Interior Gas Utility, a public entity, will issue bonds for the remaining costs.
Construction of the connection to the existing Alaska Railroad main line would allow LNG to be shipped to the utility’s gas storage facility in Fairbanks, as well as to a smaller facility at the community of North Pole. LNG is currently trucked from the LNG plant to Anchorage.
The spur would be part of a larger project which seeks to build a 33-mile rail link to Port MacKenzie, a natural deep-draft port.
— Updated at 3 p.m. CDT to correct total cost of project ot $203.9 million.
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