John: I was a VP at the railroad, in charge of pricing, marketing and sales for nearly 20 years and I was there when we did several economic studies related to McKenzie. You might note that virtually no money from the Alaska Railroad has ever been committed to this project. Coincidence? No. It's because we could never figure out how to make it pay. Your comments about going over the mountains? Anchorage and Whittier are both in operation. One port on the Inlet with the attendant ice problems but far less than McKenzie, the other on year-round deep water. One of the benefits of going over the hill to Seward though, is that it cuts off almost two days of steamship travel/cost (more in bad icing conditions) and a hefty piloting fee. Bottom line: It makes no economic sense on a regional basis when Anchorage, Whittier, Seward, Nikiski, Homer and Valdez all have docks that are hugely underutilized. Added to that, the route to McKenzie will be very expensive to maintain.

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