A2A Railway
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The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (also known as A2A for Alaska to Alberta) was an entity created to build, own, and operate a proposed railroad between
Delta Junction, Alaska Delta Junction (; ) is a List of cities in Alaska, city in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 918. The city is located a short distance south of the con ...
, United States, and
Fort McMurray, Alberta Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
, Canada. The concept never got beyond the planning stage and in 2021, the company was put in
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...
. The project was on hold due to financial irregularities between A2A's only shareholder, Sean McCoshen, and A2A's main financial backer
Bridging Finance Inc. Bridging Finance Inc. was a Canadian private lender based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that was placed in receivership by the Ontario Court of Justice following an investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). Investors in the firm's ...
At the time of the receivership filing, the railroad was still in a conceptual stage and the only assets identified by the receiver were consulting reports and intellectual property. Total debts owed to Bridging Finance were approximately $212.9 million. McCoshen filed for personal bankruptcy in Oregon two months after A2A entered receivership.


Route

The proposed A2A railway would have connected to the Alaska Railroad at
Delta Junction, Alaska Delta Junction (; ) is a List of cities in Alaska, city in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 918. The city is located a short distance south of the con ...
, and run through the
Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
to
Fort Nelson, British Columbia Fort Nelson is a community in northeast British Columbia, Canada, within the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM). It held town status prior to 6 February 2009, when it amalgamated with the former Northern Rockies Regional District to ...
, and from there to a terminus at
Fort McMurray, Alberta Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
. The A2A Railway had also been negotiating with the Mat-Su Borough on an agreement to complete the Port Mackenzie Railway Extension. The railroad was planned to interchange with and operate on part of the
Alaska Railroad The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline runs between Seward, Alaska, Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks, near the center of ...
, in order to access
Southcentral Alaska Southcentral Alaska (), also known as the Gulf Coast Region,Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Northern Opportunity Alaska's Economic Development Strategy, 2016, at 84 (Alaska 2016). Accessed June 1, 2023. https: ...
and its ports. the project was estimated to cost CA$20 billion. A rival enterprise, G7G Railway, estimated in 2020 the capital cost to be just under
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
20 billion. They proposed shipping oil, via the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...
, from rail cars in Delta Junction to the coast.


Planning

The Van Horne Institute studied the route in 2013. A survey of the proposed route by the development corporation began in July 2020. On September 25, 2020, US President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
announced he would issue a presidential permit to the railway, which had an agreement with Alaska Railway to develop a joint operating plan for the rail connection to Canada. A2A announced that JP Gladu was joining as President of A2A Rail Canada. In July 2020, the company announced the start of land surveys in the Alberta segment. However, there is no evidence of substantive field work being undertaken.


Creditor protection

In 2021, the
Ontario Securities Commission The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC; French language, French: ''Commission des valeurs mobilières de l’Ontario'') is a regulation, regulatory agency which administers and enforces security (finance), securities legislation in the Canadian p ...
(OSC) began investigating irregularities in the business dealings between the main financier of the A2A project, Bridging Finance Inc., and A2A's president, Sean McCoshen. The OSC alleged that following the funding of loans to various McCoshen companies, McCoshen funnelled a total of $19.5 million to Bridging's CEO David Sharpe. Additionally, the OSC also alleged that "millions of dollars pledged for A2A rail also went to McCoshen's personal bank account and to an apparently unrelated company controlled by him." With the investigation underway, Bridging Finance was placed under receivership in April 2021. Bridging's receiver,
PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...
requested repayment of A2A's $149 million loan in early June 2021. A2A did not have the funds available to repay the loan and it filed for creditor protection in June 2021. McCoshen no longer appeared on the A2A website as an officer of the company. Work on the project was abandoned.


See also

* Canada–Alaska Railway — early concepts for similar routes *
Rail transport in Canada Canada has a large and well-developed railway system that primarily transports freight. There are two major publicly traded transcontinental freight railway systems, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). Nationwide pass ...
*
Rail transportation in the United States Rail transportation in the United States consists primarily of Rail freight transport, freight shipments along a well integrated network of Standard-gauge railway, standard gauge private freight railroads that also extend into Canada and Mexico. ...


References

{{Alaska railroads Proposed railway lines in Canada Proposed railway lines in Alaska Alaska railroads Alberta railways Northwest Territories railways Yukon railways International railway lines Canada–United States border crossings Rail freight companies Petroleum transport Canada–United States trade relations Corporate scandals Insolvent companies