Back on track.

• Author: Petrovsky, Michael
• Position: Alaska Railroad Corp. posted profits and showed growth in 1990 - Includes related article on Alaska Railroad Corp. offices

The Alaska Railroad Corp. survived a derailment and record moose kills last year to post a $4.5 million profit.

Last year's upturn in the Alaska economy could have meant a record profit for the state's railroad. But despite hauling 20 percent more freight than it did in 1989, the Alaska Railroad Corp.'s income was cut by more than half because of a costly derailment near Dunbar and its attempt to thwart a record winter moose kill.

Railroad expenditures increased 10 percent last year, from $58.9 million in 1989 to $65.3 million in 1990. Nevertheless, the railroad made $4.5 million in 1990 - up from the $3 million it netted in 1989.

On the revenue side, the increase in freight shipments helped translate into a 13 percent increase in revenue over 1989, when the railroad took in $61.9 million. Historically, freight operations account for about 85 percent of the railroad's total revenue, and 1990 was no exception.

Gravel hauled from suppliers in the Matanuska Valley accounted for the bulk of the freight increase. Last year the railroad shipped 2.6 million tons, up 44 percent from 1.8 million tons in 1989.

Richard Knapp, the railroad's vice president of marketing, says the gravel was shipped primarily to Anchorage, where it was used for the construction of the new Federal Express terminal and the construction of a high-speed taxiing runway at Anchorage International Airport. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities also used a significant amount of gravel on its Raspberry Road project in the city's south side.

In all, 6 million tons of freight were shipped by the Alaska Railroad in 1990, compared with 5 million tons in 1989. Natural resource cargoes - coal, petroleum products and gravel - accounted for 90 percent of cargoes. Coal hauled from the Usibelli Coal Mine at Healy the railroad's sole source of coal shipments - increased slightly, by 55,000 tons, to 1.4 million tons.

The railroad's petroleum products hauling rose 17 percent over 1989. The Alaska Railroad Corp. transported 1.2 million tons of jet fuel, gasoline, heating oil and diesel fuel between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Knapp says a 17 percent increase was driven by shipments from Fairbanks oil refineries.

Knapp does not expect continued increases in refined petroleum hauling. He says the opening of Russian air space, combined with use of the longer-range Boeing 747-400 model cargo and passenger jets, could decrease air traffic in Anchorage. The resulting decline in...