Marine Railway

The Pictou Railway has a 3,000 long tons capacity with a Keel Block Loading of 13 tons/ft and a total length over keel block of 305ft.

Pictou is strategically located to marine repair market opportunities on the Gulf side of Nova Scotia. This location will be able to effectively service the entire eastern seaboard including Quebec and Ontario. In fact, Pictou is the only yard in this region with a 3,000 ton marine railway with side yard transfer capabilities. There are no bottlenecks in the harbour and Pictou is ice free for most of the year and icebreaking resources are available if required.

Aecon Fabco was attracted to the Pictou facility in part because of the pre-existing Marine Railway with side yard transfer capability. Other key features of the Pictou location include adjoining developed properties that offer unique and specialized services.

Because of the length of time needed to service these vessels, a secondary requirement relates to the railways capability for side yard transfer. In essence vessels are placed in a scheduled queue based on the projected length of time required to complete to the refit. Vessels with a longer repair time requirement are placed on the marine railway first and transferred to the side yard. This feature allows for simultaneous work on multiple vessels at the same time. This feature differentiates yards with Marine Railways that are restricted to removing / holding single vessels at a time, or, railways that can only take two vessels from the water at a time but in a bow to stern manner.

The Common User Dock facility directly to the east of the yard has been developed to service and load large modular construction. Similarly Pier C immediately to the west of the yard routinely docks international freighters and supply vessels.