It’s time to stop tearing up rail lines in Manitoba, say provincial farm groups, a view seconded by a Winkler-based grain shipper whose line could soon disappear.
Keystone Agricultural Producers and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities have called on the provincial and federal governments to impose a moratorium on rail abandonment in the province.
The call was prompted by the looming abandonment of two branch lines in the province. One is a provincially regulated short line running from Morris 129 kilometres east to Mariopolis. The other is the 101 km Glenboro line that Canadian Pacific Railway recently added to its three-year discontinuance plan, which already included three Manitoba lines.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The groups have met with the provincial ministers of transportation and agriculture and sent a letter to the federal minister to press their case for a moratorium.
They have also called on the province to organize a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the future of rail service in Manitoba.
“We can’t afford to let the steel be ripped up,” said KAP vice-president Robert MacLean. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”
He said if local rural communities are going to take advantage of future development opportunities such as ethanol, biodiesel and other grain and oilseed processing, then it’s crucial to maintain the province’s transportation infrastructure.
Martin Harder agreed.
The president of Delmar Commodities Ltd. of Winkler, Man., which operates two grain elevators and a soybean processing facility on a line recently slated for abandonment, said he was looking seriously at further value-added development along the 129 km of track running from Morris to Mariopolis.
Then on April 24, U.S.-owned Southern Manitoba Railway, which took over the line from Canadian National Railway in 1999, filed a notice of abandonment with the Manitoba Motor Transport Board.
While grain movement on the rail line has been sluggish the past two years due to district crop production and quality problems, Harder said he had “no inkling” that the railway was planning to abandon the line.
In 2005, Delmar bought and moved an elevator from La Riviere some 20 km north to Somerset, where the company already had a facility, giving it the ability to meet CN Rail’s loading requirements for reduced freight rates.
“That was barely even up and running when they applied for abandonment, and basically left me holding the bag,” said Harder. “I thought I’d have at least another year to recover and prove to them what we could do.”
Harder said he had no problems dealing with the short line over the previous five years, but CN, which supplies cars to the short line, has been unwilling to provide sufficient cars or negotiate discount rates out of Somerset. CN officials could not be reached for comment.
High steel prices have driven up the net salvage value of the line to an estimated $12 million, about 1.5 times the original purchase price.
MacLean said if the province doesn’t declare a moratorium, then it should purchase the short line. Failing that, then the government should provide financial compensation to communities located along the line.
