The Prince George transload area investments since 2004 will total over $60M by year-end 2012.

During the same period, the rail shipper spent more than $150M on longer sidings along the 1000-mile-long Edmonton-Prince Rupert corridor.

CN executive vice president and chief operating officer Keith Creel said the Prince George investment reflected the station’s strategic value as a halfway junction point between Edmonton and the west coast.

“The facility serviced locomotive for more than 9000 CN trains that transited the city last year,” he said.

“We are at maximum capacity at [Prince George], with three shifts per day, seven days a week, and we need to expand it to handle existing and forecast growth of intermodal, coal and other traffic in northern BC.”

The move follows on a $5M offer from Canadian coal companies Colonial Coal and Hillsborough Resources to develop at Prince Rupert and nearby Port Edward.

Increase in Canada’s Pacific coast exports has coincided with economic growth in Asia with Canadian international Trade Minister Ed Fast noting last month that Vancouver was the “gateway of choice between Asia and North America”