Hudson Bay Railway receives $133 million from the federal and Manitoba governments for repairs and maintenance
The Hudson Bay Railway will receive $133 million in new funding to upgrade and maintain the rail line that runs from The Pas, Man., to Churchill, Man.
The federal government will provide $60 million, on top of its existing support, and the Manitoba government is contributing $73.8 million to the project. The two levels of government made the announcement in Winnipeg Aug. 3.
The funding is for two years and will go to the Arctic Gateway Group, a partnership between First Nations and northern communities. Arctic Gateway owns the railway, the Port of Churchill, the Churchill Marine Tank Farm and other assets.
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
“The Hudson Bay Railway is an engine for economic development, job growth and tourism opportunities, and our government is proud to support this vital transportation network,” Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson said.
“Building our northern economy is essential to our province’s future economic and social success, and I am confident this investment will provide economic benefits for the North, Manitoba and all of the prairie provinces for years to come.”
The $60 million in federal support is on top of a previous $40 million investment made last year to repair the rail line. In 2018 Ottawa committed $117 million in funding to allow First Nations and northern Manitoba communities to purchase and operate the railway and port.
This latest investment in the rail line may help reopen the Port of Churchill and resume grain shipments out of the port.
Last fall, Arctic Gateway announced it would close the port and halt grain shipments for two years so it could repair sections of the rail line, in particular the stretch between Gillam and Churchill, which sits on top of muskeg.
Grain trains will not be running to Churchill this summer, but passenger and freight service has continued.
“It would have been very difficult to run grain trains at the same time,” Sheldon Affleck, chief executive officer of Arctic Gateway, told Glacier Farm Media last year.
“If you don’t bite the bullet and do your permanent solutions to the track, it’s like a pot-holey road that’s always under construction and you never get anything productive done. You are damaging what you are doing while you are doing it inefficiently.”
Over the last four years, multiple groups have owned and operated the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill. OmniTrax, an American firm, said in 2017 it couldn’t afford the $40 to 60 million needed for repairs after flooding washed out parts of the rail line in the spring of that year.
In 2018 OmniTrax sold the port and railway to the first version of the Arctic Gateway Group, a partnership between First Nations and other northern communities, Toronto financier Fairfax Financial and AGT Food and Ingredients of Saskatchewan.
In March 2021, the First Nations and northern communities assumed 100 percent control of Arctic Gateway.
Only a small amount of grain has been exported through the port during the recent period of ownership change, flooding and repairs.
Data from the Hudson Bay Route Association, a producer group that supports the rail line and the Port of Churchill, shows grain exports through the port were zero from 2016-18. In 2019, 137,000 tonnes were shipped through Churchill and 95,700 tonnes in 2020, based on figures from the Canadian Grain Monitor.
Barry Prentice, a supply chain expert from the University of Manitoba, told the CBC the port isn’t being used to its full potential.
He said with grain exports through the port dwindling, maybe it can be used to ship other commodities such as petroleum or upgraded into a container port.
