Record year had been expected | One company says it could ship 1,000 cars a year if they were available
Short-line railways in northeastern Saskatchewan had steady demand for their services this winter, but a shortage of grain cars took a huge toll on their business.
Thunder Rail, based at Arborfield, Sask., expected a record year for grain shipments, said company official Francis Rodier, but car spotting by big railway companies was hit and miss.
“This year was set up to be one of our biggest years for shipping,” Rodier said during a recent appearance at the Hudson Bay Route Association’s annual meeting.
“In the past, we’ve had really good luck … but this year … the biggest problem we’ve had was availability of cars.”
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Thunder Rail operates 32 kilo-metres of track between Arborfield and Crooked River, near Tisdale.
The short line ships about 375 cars of grain in a normal year, but this year could have moved more than 800 cars if they had been available.
“We managed to get our 375 cars, but we have a shortfall of nearly 450 cars right now,” Rodier said April 3.
“That’s been a huge issue for us. We’ve lost some sales over that.”
Oat deliveries from northeastern Saskatchewan were badly affected.
Oats grown in the northeast are normally shipped to mills in the United States.
This year, major American buyers cut off bids for Saskatchewan oats because deliveries were unreliable.
A lack of cars has also caused cash flow issues in the area, not only for farmers but for businesses that depend on consistent movement of their products by rail.
Not far away, Torch River Rail faced a similar problem.
“To date this year, we’ve shipped 340 cars,” said Torch River chair Ron Shymanski.
“Most of that is oats … but we’re also 400 cars behind.”
Torch River runs on 45 km of track between Choiceland and Nipawin.
Shymanski said two of the biggest companies that source grain from the area cut off their bids in January.
Shymanski said more hopper cars could allow Torch River to ship 1,000 cars of grain per year, which is five times what was proposed in the short line’s original business plan.
On April 7, Ottawa’s standing committee on agriculture rejected a proposed amendment to Bill C-30 that was intended to ensure better service for short-line railway companies.
The bill, also known as the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, will instead focus on improving rail service by encouraging shippers to negotiate service contracts with Canada’s major railway companies.
The contracts are expected to include commercial fines that penalize major railways for failing to provide the level of service that they promise.
Merv Tweed, president of OmniTrax Canada, said he is confident his company will be able to negotiate an acceptable level of service with Canadian National Railway.
OmniTrax, which owns the Hudson Bay Railway (HBR) in northern Manitoba and Carlton Trail Railway in north-central Saskatchewan, depends on CN to deliver cars to HBR’s railhead in The Pas, Man.
Tweed hopes CN will spot 8,000 grain cars for OmniTrax to use this year.
