Aquatrain

{{Short description|Rail barge formerly operated by the Canadian National Railway}}

{{distinguish|Quatrain}}

The Aquatrain (or AquaTrain) was an unpowered unmanned sea-going rail barge operated by Canadian National Railway (CN) between Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, and the Alaska Railroad in Whittier, Alaska, United States. It was the largest such barge in the world, containing 8 sidings and using a tug for power and control. The length of loadable train, some 50 cars, would, if the cars were placed end to end, rise up twice as tall as the Chicago Willis Tower. The ferry service started operations in 1962, and had a 3-day voyage between Whittier and Prince Rupert, usually operating once a week, year-round. The Aquatrain barge was built in 1982 by South Korea's Shin-A shipbuilding, and is {{convert|400|x|100|ft|m|abbr=on}}. Since 1993, the Aquatrain's maritime tugboats and tug crews were provided by Foss Maritime. Foss utilized two {{convert|116|ft|m|abbr=on}} tugboats Justine Foss and Barbara Foss.{{cite episode |series= Alaska Mega Machines |title= Warriors in the Last Frontier |airdate= 30 August 2016 |network= Discovery Channel }}{{cite web |url= https://www.alaskarails.org/industries/aquatrain.html |title= Canadian National's AquaTrain |date= 21 August 1998 |publisher= Alaska Rails .org }}{{cite web |url= https://www.foss.com/projects/case-study-topic-aquatrain/ |title= Foss Transports World's Largest Railcar Barge |publisher= Foss Maritime Company, LLC |date= 2020 }}

Service ended in April 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.alaskarails.org/industries/aquatrain/last/index.html | title=The Last AquaTrain | date=2021}}