A railway group with members across the Prairies is hoping to drum up interest in an unused section of rail line that could serve as a key link to the Port of Churchill.
Sinclair Harrison, president of the Hudson Bay Route Association, said there appears to be significant interest in buying two portions of an unused Canadian National line that run between Hudson Bay, Sask., and Prince Albert.
The line, known as CN Tisdale, was listed for abandonment earlier this year and has been on the HBRA’s radar for some time.
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The track is near another line owned by OmniTrax Canada that runs between The Pas, Man., and the Port of Churchill on the western shore of the Hudson Bay.
If CN Tisdale was acquired by a short line rail group, it could give farmers and business owners in northeastern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba a direct shipping route to the Port of Churchill.
Goods and commodities arriving there would then be shipped by boat to South America, Europe and other important international markets.
Some grain from Tisdale, Prince Albert and the surrounding areas is already shipped through the Port of Churchill, but most of that follows an indirect route, first travelling south and east to Canora, Sask., and then north to The Pas.
Routing grain through Canora adds another 320 kilometres to the trip.
“When you look at the map, this is a no brainer,” said Harrison.
“Right now, grain has to go a significant distance south to get to Churchill.”
Last week, the HRBA hosted a meeting attended by short-line railway groups, provincial officials from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, regional economic development and transportation committees, representatives from nearby municipalities and officials from OmniTrax Canada.
Harrison described the meeting as positive and constructive, adding that OmniTrax and others would like to see the Tisdale line back in operation.
In addition to its line between The Pas and Churchill, Man., OmniTrax owns another piece of track that runs from Prince Albert south toward Saskatoon and a spur line that runs southeast of Prince Albert toward Birch Hills.
Brad Chase, president of OmniTrax Canada, said he will work with the HBRA to facilitate a deal.
Chase said many groups would like to see the Tisdale line opened again under local ownership.
“We’re interested in having the lines open because it makes the route to Churchill much shorter and our intent is to work with local parties … and from there determine what our involvement would be,” said Chase.
“There’s a strong interest from local officials to have local ownership, which is fine with us. We’d just like to see it opened and operating.”
Chase did not rule out the possibility of OmniTrax acquiring the line or becoming a part owner, but said it’s too early to say what the company’s role will be.
Portions of the line will require significant upgrades before they can be used and some parts of the track are under water.
“There’s a large amount of work required to get the line passable so that needs to be closely studied,” Chase said.
In addition to track upgrades, other challenges include securing financing and determining how the loss of Canadian Wheat Board business could impact grain movement in the area.
CN or Canadian Pacific Railway must first go through a regulated discontinuance process that allows interested parties to negotiate a deal.
If a deal isn’t reached, the line must then be offered to provincial and municipal governments for the net salvage value.
Harrison said provincial governments have traditionally played a facilitator’s role and are not usually involved in rail line ownership.
The Saskatchewan government provides low-cost loans to regional short-line groups and also provides annual maintenance grants to groups that operate short line railways.
“Certainly, we all know that rail keeps traffic off the roads and the roads in Saskatchewan have taken a tremendous beating recently,” Harrison said.
“The provincial governments in Saskatchewan and I think in Manitoba also have been reluctant to become owners of rail.
“They are supportive of the (short-line) industry in other ways and I think that’s worked well … but I don’t see them getting into the ownership of it.”
