Pipelines, energy and natural resources

[Good2Golf]

Back to the other option of running a new pipeline East through Ontario rather than dipping down into the US I wonder if building along abandoned/unused rail lines where possible might make it easier to cross the difficult terrain of the Canadian Shield. The total distance might be longer than an optimal straight line route but I wonder if that might be offset by the cost savings of building along a previously cleared path?

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There would be significant advantages to using old railbeds due to, if nothing else, the muskeg is already filled in and the route is designed for all season weight. Crossings would need to be installed but that's any easy task for crews to install.

There would be some engineering issues in terms of widths needed but it's easier to expand a road than build from scratch or you end up with one-way segments with pullouts for passing.

Landownership however might be an issue as many of those old lines have been sold off and may be private holdings. In S. Ont. I believe a large number of them were converted to recreation trails.

That said the key segments of Ignace (best guess on terminus) -> Thunder Bay -> Long Lac and then picking up fromt he area around Timmins -> Gogama -> Sudbury down towards Ottawa jump out as major corridors...in very difficult ground....to focus upon.

If you go east from Timmins -> Temuskiming (ONT/QUE) border area there is an interesting chain of communities I didn't see much roading too running from Val-de-Or east....pipes need to get south at some point but a route that is high and away from the communities of St. Lawarence might be an easier political battle than through the dense populations area. Maybe the Quebec solution is a port downstream of Quebec City and then it's either tanker to New Brunswick/Montreal or export overseas?
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….or, we don’t overthink it and just twin up along TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline natural gas line through Ontario…

TC Energy — Canadian Mainline

TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline safely delivers natural gas from Alberta and B.C. to eastern markets.

www.tcenergy.com

 

[YZT580]

….or, we don’t overthink it and just twin up along TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline natural gas line through Ontario…

TC Energy — Canadian Mainline

TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline safely delivers natural gas from Alberta and B.C. to eastern markets.

www.tcenergy.com

if you can get it through Quebec and provided it doesn't run into first nation blockages through the north.