Trans Mountain’s Anchor Loop expansion project involved installing a second pipeline adjacent to the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline — a 158-kilometre section of the existing Trans Mountain system between Hinton, Alberta and Hargreaves, BC. 

The project involved looping a portion of the Trans Mountain pipeline system crossing Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park, both designated part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains Parks, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. UNESCO designations recognize areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; significant landforms or geomorphic features; outstanding examples of plant and animal communities and ecosystems; and biological diversity and threatened species. 

Planning and permitting for Anchor Loop was initiated in 2004, with construction of the pipeline completed in 2008. The project involved construction of seven kilometres of pipe with a 762-millimetre (30-inch) diameter and 151 kilometres of pipe with a 914-millimetre (36-inch) diameter from the Hinton Pump Station near Hinton, Alberta, to a location near Rearguard, BC. 

The project crossed federal, provincial and private lands. 

Anchor Loop also involved the installation of two new pump stations along the Trans Mountain Pipeline, the Wolf Pump Station near Niton Junction, Alberta, and the Chappel Pump Station near Pyramid, BC, as well as two new scraper traps. (A scraper trap is an assembly to send/receive in-line inspection tools for maintenance operations). These permanent facility sites are located outside park boundaries on provincial Crown lands and private lands in Alberta and BC. A typical pump station site is 200 metres by 200 metres and consists of a pump equipment building, above-ground piping and valves, an electrical equipment building, an electrical substation, and an operator’s building.

Project construction was completed in two phases, from August 2007 to April 2008 (Jasper National Park) and from June to November 2008 (Mount Robson Provincial Park). Restoration activities began in June 2008 and were completed in fall 2009. Monitoring of restoration success started in 2008 and has been ongoing. 

Completion of Anchor Loop increased the capacity of the Trans Mountain Pipeline system from 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 300,000.