SASKATOON – Brian Darmokid isn’t very happy at the thought of losing his branch line.
He’s been hauling grain to the elevator at Porcupine Plain in northeastern Saskatchewan since he started farming in the early 1970s.
But now CN Rail’s Chelan subdivision, which runs through Porcupine Plain, is on the list of 24 light steel branch lines that have been recommended for immediate abandonment as a way to reduce grain transportation costs.
In a report to federal cabinet ministers, Grain Transportation Agency administrator Peter Thomson said there is “general industry agreement that these line should be abandoned.” But that agreement doesn’t necessarily include those most directly affected.
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“They say it’s going to save money, but they don’t say who’s going to save money,” Darmokid said from his farm last week.
“It sure isn’t going to be the farmers.”
If the line is abandoned, Darmokid said he’ll have to hire commercial truckers to haul his grain at least 55 kilometres to an alternate delivery point, over a highway that was “practically impassable” this spring.
“I don’t know how they figure they’re going to haul grain out of this area without spending a bunch of money on either the road or the track,” he said.
Targets for abandonment
Darmokid won’t be alone in his dilemma if Thomson’s recommendations are accepted. There are 52 delivery points, with about 70 elevators, on the branch lines identified for immediate abandonment. In Saskatchewan, 30 delivery points would have to be closed, along with 14 in Manitoba and eight in Alberta.
Mike Shumsky, the GTA’s executive director of planning, said abandoning the 1,361 kms of track in question would provide a net savings of about $17 million after taking into account additional commercial trucking costs.
“The light steel lines would need major upgrading to carry fully loaded hopper cars and given the volume that’s just not feasible,” he said.
Some critics say those cost figures don’t take into account the additional road maintenance costs that would be faced by provinces and municipalities as a result of increased trucking. But Shumsky said the analysis assumes that those costs would be recovered through truck licensing fees, fuel taxes and so on.
Jim Robbins, a farmer and elected member of the senior grain transportation committee, said a case study should be carried out on specific branch lines to see whether there are really net savings from abandoning light steel lines.
“Farmers are prepared to be rational about this,” he said. “What farmers dislike is this constant harping about railroad costs in isolation from other costs that clearly have to be considered.”
Grain handling companies have a big stake in the branch line debate. For example, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has more than 20 elevators on the lines being proposed for abandonment.
End the uncertainty
The pool’s transportation planner Ron Weik said the pool agrees that costs from farmgate to vessel must be taken into account. But from a strictly operational point of view, the key thing grain handlers want is an end to the uncertainty.
Grain companies won’t invest on light steel lines and are reluctant to build on adjacent lines in anticipation of abandonment taking place.
“Say we build a concrete elevator and expect to get grain from an adjoining branch line that we think is going to be abandoned in one or two years,” he said. “If that line stays for five years, that really screws up the financial aspects of that new elevator because you were counting on getting a certain volume in two years and you don’t get it.”
Federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and transport minister Doug Young said the GTA report is simply a recommendation that will be used in upcoming consultations with the grain industry.
But Darmokid said that doesn’t make him feel any better: “When they propose something like this it’s pretty well a done deal.”
