Alaska Railroad Corporation is the state-owned corporation that operates freight and passenger rail service in Alaska. It runs trains between Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Interior, including the Denali Star tourist service. It also manages its rail corridor, land and crossings statewide.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 4.0
alaskarailroad.com ↗327 W Ship Creek Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501, USA
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AIDEA ends private Port MacKenzie rail deal as railroad weighs building it itself
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is ending its deal with a private group to finish the Port MacKenzie rail extension. The Alaska Railroad's board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on finishing the line itself with a $249 million federal grant.
AIDEA gave notice Oct. 27 that its agreement with Alaska Infrastructure Partners, a venture of Macquarie Capital and Martinus Group, ends Nov. 26, according to a proposed resolution in the railroad board's meeting packet. The resolution says AIDEA ended it "for convenience," "as required for the best interests of AIDEA." AIDEA's news releases and board records don't mention it, and no one has spoken publicly for the group.
That $311 million plan is one of three related resolutions. Another would pull the railroad out of the private deal. The third would ask the state for 885 acres near the port, land that AIDEA and a conservation district have also asked for.
The 32-mile line would connect Port MacKenzie, across Knik Arm from Anchorage, to the railroad's main line at Houston. Ground was broken in 2013. Embankments are built on five of its eight segments, but only one has rail. Supporters say it would carry minerals and other cargo to the port. Nova Minerals says its planned antimony refinery would sit directly on the line. The Alaska House voted down state money for it in May.
Alaska Infrastructure Partners proposed in 2025 to build and finance the line and be repaid over 30 years once trains ran. The state's gas line corporation negotiated the deal and handed it to AIDEA in June. The railroad board authorized talks in August, but the railroad says it later reviewed a draft agreement and "identified numerous concerns." The resolution doesn't say what they were. Board vice chair John Binkley has called the group's timeline unrealistic.
While the deal is in effect, its exclusivity terms bar the state from pursuing another way to build the line, "such as that which ARRC would pursue under the CRISI grant," the resolution says. CRISI is the federal rail program behind the grant. Pulling out now would let the railroad move before Nov. 26.
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About Alaska Railroad Corporation
Photo: Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 4.0
alaskarailroad.com ↗327 W Ship Creek Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501, USA
Alaska Railroad Corporation is the state-owned corporation that runs freight and passenger rail service in Alaska. Its trains link Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Interior, including the Denali Star tourist service, and it manages its rail corridor, land and crossings. A board oversees it, and its decisions are taken in public session.
Weather and terrain test the mainline, with landslides north of Talkeetna cutting service to Denali and erosion along the Nenana River near Healy pushing the railroad to move track onto state land. Transfers of state land into the corridor raise questions about public access to hunting and fishing grounds along the tracks.
The Port MacKenzie rail extension in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough links the railroad to borough plans and to industry, such as a refinery seeking a siding on the line. In Anchorage, crossing rebuilds like the one at Sitka Street tie the railroad to city projects and the property owners who help pay for them.