Railways? Pipelines? What's better than 7 B-train Trucks a Day?

In response to my previous post, I've had a number of questions about "what's better than trucking? We need a railway? Pipelines?"

Well, we've had a railway for over 100 years, and a pipeline for over 50 years. But, we don't use our railway which connects us to a fine deep water port, and we've been busy ripping up our pipeline infrastructure. Ah, that's progress.

So, the question is, what is better than trucking all that gasoline, diesel and heating fuel to the Yukon?

1. First rule, USE LESS! If we cut our fossil fuel consumption in half, the amount of trucks half. That's a fundamental of energy efficiency and energy independence - USE LESS!
2. Second, use a ship from Vancouver and the railway from Skagway:

• Energy use / tonne-km for rail is 1/10th that for trucks. Ships are 1/6th that of trucks¹
• A round trip from Vancouver to Skagway via the Inside Passage is about 3000 km. A round trip from Skagway to Whitehorse by rail is about 360 km.
  
• Assuming we are moving some 126 million litres of fuel annually, or 107,500 tonnes of fuel annually, then the total fuel consumption (diesel) by ship and rail from Vancouver to Whitehorse is 3.2 million litres of fuel

So, the answer is 1) use less; and 2) if we used ship and rail, we'd cut the fuel usage (and GHG emissions) associated with transportation of fossil fuels to the Yukon by 63%.

Hydro-electrify the railway, and it's even more...

• Note that oil pipelines use about 1/5.5th the energy of trucks, so are less efficient than railways from an energy perspective (no comment on relative manpower requirements). However, if the pumps running the pipeline are hydroelectric powered, and the rail is not run on hydro, then probably the pipeline is a better idea. Overall, the railway should be hydro-electricfied (if that is a word!)

Here's a radical Yukon sustainability suggestion: Should us Yukoners acquire (dare I say it - nationalize?) the railway to Skagway to ensure a long-term sustainable transportation solution for ourselves?