A decision will be made shortly in a dispute between two railways in which prairie grain farmers have a lot at stake.
The Canadian Transportation Agency expects to issue its ruling by mid-February on the dispute between Canadian National Railway and BNSF Railway.
The original 120 day deadline for the agency to rule on CN’s application would have been Jan. 25, but was extended at the request of both parties.
“We should have a decision out in the next couple of weeks,” CTA spokesperson Marc Comeau said Jan. 29.
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Last fall, CN asked the agency to decide that interswitching rules, including regulated rates, should not apply to the movement of BNSF traffic from Winnipeg to the United States.
Instead, CN wants to negotiate a commercial switching agreement, which shippers say could price BNSF out of the market.
The Winnipeg interchange between the two railways dates to 1912 and is the only point on the Prairies from which grain cars can be shipped directly to the U.S. The Canadian Wheat Board and Paterson Grain intervened in the case on the side of BNSF.
Last year, the board shipped 130,000 tonnes directly to U.S. buyers via BNSF.
In its brief to the agency, the wheat board said if CN is successful in its application, it would result in less rail competition in southern Manitoba in general and Winnipeg in particular.
“Less competition means poorer service, higher rates and therefore a cost to producers,” it said.
Keith Bruch, vice-president of operations for Paterson, whose Winnipeg North elevator would be directly affected by any change, said moving to a higher commercial rate would make the BNSF traffic uncompetitive and result in the service being shut down.Bruch said last week the CTA decision has taken longer than he expected.
“It’s really not that difficult an issue.”
In asking the CTA to end regulated interswitching with BNSF, CN argues that there is no physical interchange between CN and BNSF, and CN is not a “local carrier.”
Therefore, it adds, interswitching regulations do not apply.
