In a series of meetings across west central Saskatchewan recently, officials of West Central Road and Rail – the organization working to buy the rail line which runs from near Saskatoon to the Alberta border and turn it into a short line — told those attending that this is the last chance for their communities.
They weren’t talking doom and gloom.They were talking reality.
WCRR recently put out a share offering hoping to raise from $60,000 to $300,000.
While the call for cash comes at a time when the farm income picture is bleak, the picture will be bleaker if the rail line and the elevators are removed from the west central area, they said.
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West Central Road and Rail has been in operation for about a year and a half. It is a grassroots organization formed to investigate rail-line abandonment and elevator closure along the branch line. WCRR believes that “producer and community owned shortlines and handling facilities are viable alternatives” to concrete terminals on mainlines.
Their fight has become something of a crusade, a crusade to save not just a rail line but rural communities along the line.
Rob Lobdell of WCRR told the meetings: “Make no mistake, this is about much more than where farmers will deliver their grain. It’s about where your children will attend school, where you receive basic medical care, where you will pick up your mail, buy groceries or fuel, where you will work, socialize or coffee.”
There are people who say it won’t happen, that even if the line goes, communities will survive. These people have their heads in the sand.
Even with a rail line and elevators, communities all along the line have slipped in terms of population and services.
Hospitals have closed. And schools. Many main streets, where they still exist, have empty storefronts and vacant lots.
Lobdell is correct in saying the rail line and elevators won’t in themselves guarantee prosperity. He is also correct in saying that without them the demise of communities will be hastened.
When Nov. 30 comes, WCRR and the people of west central Saskatchewan will know whether the fight to save the rail line will go on or whether, in the words of several speakers at the public meetings, WCRR will fold its tent and go away. Whichever way the chips fall, you may be sure that the results will be felt far beyond west central Saskatchewan.
