TransCanada weighs rail bridge amid Keystone pipeline delay

TransCanada might develop a rail bridge from Canada to Nebraska if work on the northern leg of its proposed Keystone XL pipeline continues to be delayed, the company’s CEO said this week.

{mosads}The northern leg of the pipeline, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries, requires approval from President Obama since it crosses an international border.

The five-year delay of the pipeline has the Calgary-based company exploring other options, the Financial Post reports.

“If we need to bridge with rail, we will bridge,” CEO Russ Girling told the Financial Post on Tuesday.

“I don’t think we would ever stop pressing the pipeline option, but there is a point in time at which we would consider a rail option,” he added.

TransCanada and green groups are currently awaiting the release of the highly anticipated State Department environmental impact statement, which many expect to seal the fate of the pipeline. The environmental review is due out any day.

Keystone’s southern leg, known as the Gulf Coast Project, did not require approval from the federal government and is set to begin shipping oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast in January.

The southern leg runs from Cushing, Okla., to Nederland, Texas.