Legislative committee advances bill to fund Alaska Railroad’s Seward dock project, kills provision for new rail spur

JUNEAU, Alaska — A bill to fund two Alaska Railroad projects met with mixed results in the state Senate Finance Committee, the news site Must Read Alaska reports.

The committee retained the original measure in House Bill 122, which authorizes up to $75 million in bonds for a new Seward dock and related facilities [see “Alaska Railroad seeks funding for new Seward passenger dock,” Trains News Wire, April 17, 2024]. But it removed a provision by Rep. Kevin McCabe (R-Big Lake) to allow the railroad to issue $58 million in bonds to finance a long-discussed, partially graded 32-mile spur to reach Port MacKenzie, a deepwater port near Anchorage currently accessible only by road [see “Alaska legislator seeks to let Alaska Railroad issue bonds for rail spur …,” News Wire, April 2, 2024].

The Port MacKenzie provision faced opposition, Must Read Alaska reports, because the spur is still uncompleted after $184 million in previous funding, and because the port itself is not yet complete. And the port would need customers for the railroad to obtain the additional funding to complete the spur; in 2020, the total cost was estimated at $314 million.

Alaska Railroad CEO Bill O’Leary told the committee in testimony by phone that the railroad supports “the Port MacKenzie rail extension project and rail extension in general,” saying additional rail infrastructure “Is key to unlocking many parts of Alaska and the resources that are otherwise trapped.”