Introduction

Trains

Rail Lines

Ports

Ports

Roberts Bank, the largest of three ports near Vancouver, also needed to be improved to handle the growing coal traffic. At first, the 50-acre site could handle about 8 million tonnes of coal each year. In the 1980’s, the port was enlarged to handle up to 22 million tonnes. Land was built up from the shallow sea bed to provide additional space for coal and equipment.^9,10,11

"Westshore site map."
Courtesy of Westshore Terminals

The equipment included a special rail car unloader that could empty about 40 coal cars in one hour and special ship loaders that could fill coal boats at 6000 tonnes per hour. With these improvements, a 100 000-ton ship could be loaded in under 17 hours! It took longer for the boats to dock and connect with the coal loaders then it did for them to load.¹²

Over the years, trains, rail lines and ports have become very efficient at handling huge volumes of coal. These improvements have helped the Elk Valley mines compete with coal producers from around the world.