The Alaska Railroad has no direct rail connection to any other railroad in North America, making the interchange of railroad cars more challenging. Whittier is a port town, and the railroad maintains a barge slip there which is utilized for interchange operations. Alaska Marine Lines owns three barges, Whittier Provider, Anchorage Provider, and Fairbanks Provider. Each barge has eight tracks on the deck. They also have stantions to support shipping containers above the deck, high enough to clear most rail cars. Each track on the barge is over 400 feet long, making it possible to ship more than 40 freight cars on each barge. Approximately 5,000 tons of cargo can be hauled in the rail cars. The barges which carry rail cars also carry shipping containers above the rail cars. Approximately 10,000 tons of cargo can be moved in containers on each barge.
In Seattle, Washington, the Alaska Railroad maintains another barge slip, which is the other terminal for railroad barge operations. In Seattle, cars are loaded and unloaded from the barges by the Union Pacific Railroad. From there, they can go anywhere in North America.
Besides the barges operated by Alaska Marine Lines, the Canadian National Railway built another similar barge, called AquaTrain. They operated that barge for a long time, but more recently it was sold to Foss Marine, and they currently operate it. It also has eight tracks, although only six tracks go to the end of the barge. There are two switches on the barge to access the two shortest track. The AquaTrain also has no container loading capacity. It operates between Whittier and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. In Prince Rupert, rail cars are loaded and unloaded by Canadian National.
The barges which connect the Alaska Railroad to the rest of North America are all large, ocean going barges. The tugboats that tow them are less specialized than the barges, but are also large, ocean going vessels. The three Alaska Marine Lines barges operate on a rotating schedule, with weekly departures from both Whittier and Seattle. The AquaTrain simply ferries cars back and forth between Whittier and Prince Rupert. A trip between Whittier and Seattle typically takes about a week in good weather. In the winter, when the weather is less cooperative, it is not uncommon for those trips to stretch out to ten days, and occasionally to two weeks. The trip to Prince Rupert is typically about two days shorter.
The railroad and the barges operate 24 hours a day, and in all weather. Usually the weather in Whittier is rainy and windy, but whenever the barge arrives, it gets unloaded. The quicker it can get unloaded, loaded, and out of port, the more money it can make. The sooner foreign rail cars get off the Alaska Railroad, the sooner the railroad can stop paying the per diem for them.
When a barge is expected in Whittier, a train leaves Anchorage to meet it. It is about a two hour train trip to Whittier usually. Often the trip is planned so that the train gets to Whittier ahead of the barge enough to get things switched out and organized before the barge gets there, so that everything is ready to go when the barge arrives. Typically, about half of the train consists of cars that are going on the barge, and the other half is mostly intermodal flat cars that haul shipping containers. When the train arrives in Whittier, it must be split up to fit in the yard. The flat cars all get put in places where the longshoremen can unload the containers that were brought in. The containers usually get stacked up around the yard, where they will be out of the way. Many of them are empty, since Alaska does not export many containerized products. During some parts of the year, there can be refrigerated containers full of fish, destined for cities all over North America. The remaining cars on the train typically get placed on one or two tracks on Whittier yard, wherever they will fit. Once all the cars are out of the way, it is time to unload the barge.
Before unloading the barge, the train crew, barge crew, and several managers meet together in a little shack near the dock. Besides getting out of the rain for a few minutes, there is a lengthy discussion about the logistics of unloading the barge. Concerns such as heavy cars, long cars, or wide cars are brought up. Tide information is referenced to make plans, since unloading can only occur during certain tidal conditions. Once all the questions are answered, a plan is made, and the meeting adjourns. Everyone working on the barge and slip area gets a hard hat and a self inflating life preserver. The goal is to stay out of the water, but better safe than sorry.
When unloading begins, the conductor usually goes on the barge. The stevedores unlash all the cars, and once unlashed, the engine is coupled to the car at the stern. The conductor releases all the hand brakes, except the one at the stern. At the bow, the cars are typically coupled to a large steel block, called the headblock, which is welded to both the deck and the bulkhead at the bow. The conductor uncouples the cars from the headblock, and then instructs the brakeman to release the handbrake at the stern and pull the cars. The cars are pulled off the barge at walking speed or less, and up the slip. The process is repeated for each track.
The barge has eight tracks, but the slip only has three. Because of this, the barge must be moved several times during the unloading process. When in port, the barge is tied to several hydraulic winches, which allow the crew to reposition the barge to access other tracks. The tug stays lashed to the port side of the barge, though it is rarely called upon to provide assistance in moving the barge. Unloading is planned to coordinate with the tide, weight of the cars, and balancing the barge. The barge has large ballast tanks, which can be filled with seawater to offset uneven loading and unloading, but balance must still be taken into consideration. At times when the tide may get too high or too low to use the slip, the order of unloading can be used to cause the barge to lean to one side or the other, which can be used to help offset tidal changes.
After the rail cars are off the barge, forklifts are brought onto the barge and the load of containers are unloaded. These containers are loaded onto the now empty flat cars that were spotted all over the yard earlier. Usually there are far more containers than there empty flat cars though, so some of the containers get staged out of the way in the yard until more flat cars arrive. The containers that were brought to Whittier on the train are then loaded on the barge.
Usually by the time the barge has been unloaded, the train crew no longer has time left to work. Between the trip to Whittier from Anchorage, the switching before the barge operations, and then the barge operations, 12 hours can be used up easily. The crew goes to a hotel in Whittier to get some rest. While that crew is resting, another train arrives from Anchorage. It is similar to the first, and is about half flat cars and half interchange cars. The crew that brings that train into Whittier spends several hours switching in Whittier. They get all the newly loaded flat cars together again, as well as the cars that arrived on the barge. They spot more container flat cars, and usually a few more cars that need to go on the barge for the other crew to load later. Usually they cannot take all the cars that came off the barge, because a train of that length, plus all the flat cars, cannot be assembled between the yard and the tunnel to leave town. Some of the offloaded interchange cars remain behind, but all the flat cars are taken out of Whittier, back to Anchorage.
The longshoremen spend the time loading the barge with the containers that arrived from Anchorage on the two trains. They are less affected by the tide since their vehicles are on tires and are not coupled together, and so they work while the train crew rests. The goal is to have all the containers in place and secured by the time the train crew comes back on duty to load the barge.
When the first crew is rested, they go back on duty to load the barge. That shift usually starts with some switching, after the conductor and the barge crew chat for a few minutes about the placement of cars in the barge. The idea is to put the cars in an order that makes sense, so that each track on the barge only needs to be accessed one time during the whole operation. Once the interchange cars are put in an order that will work, everyone meets in the shack to go over the plans for the day. This meeting is very similar to the one held prior to unloading the barge, and many of the same topics are covered again, including the tide, the weather, car weights, and the order of loading. Once all the questions are answered and a plan is developed, everyone gets on their hard hats and life preservers again and goes to work.
Once again, the conductor works on the barge, and the brakeman on the slip. The brakeman gets the train to the barge, and then the conductor controls the movement on the barge. The train is brought to a stop one car length away from the headblock. At that point, the conductor places the last car in emergency and secures the hand brake. This gives the engineer something to push against, particularly when the tide is low and the slip is downhill towards the barge. Once the brakes are applied on the last car, the conductor gently couples the car to the headblock. Stopping one car length away from the headblock helps ensure that this happens gently. Coupling too hard to the headblock can potentially move the barge. Since the slip rests on the stern of the barge, too much movement could cause the slip to slide off the barge, opening up a space through which rail cars could fall into the ocean. Fortunately, this is extremely rare, because everyone is very careful when working on the barge! Once the cars are securely coupled to the headblock, the brakeman secures the hand brake on the car on the stern, and then uncouples the rest of the train. The stevedores lash the cars down, and when they are done, the same process happens again on another track.
Once the barge is loaded, the train crew puts together all the flat cars that remain, and any leftover interchange cars that were unloaded previously. Usually there are a few that the other crew was unable to take with them. The whole train gets an air test and then heads for Anchorage. In Anchorage, the crew will bring the train into the yard, where it will usually fill one of the longer tracks. They go home, and the yard crews break the train up, and prepares all the freight to head to different destinations all over Alaska.
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