29 April 2009
Few Opportunities for OVR
North Bay Ontario - The future looks bleak for a
shortline railway that has lost most of its business and has few future prospects, says a union official.
Rene Leclerc, general chairman for Teamsters Rail Conference Line East representing more than 50 Ottawa Valley Railway workers, said
the recent notification of 30 layoffs will have a huge impact on North Bay and Smiths Falls.
"The general membership is really nervous right now. Some of our members are entitled to a pension, but most will be badly affected by
this", Leclerc said.
"I feel really bad for them right now. Some of the affected employees were former CP workers that have been working for Ottawa Valley
Railway for more than 20 years".
OVR announced Monday it has issued layoff notices to employees following a decision from Canadian Pacific Railway to reroute its
freight traffic to its own system from Sudbury to Montreal.
Leclerc said with paper and saw mills in Northern Ontario suffering, there are few industries left to help a railway desperately
looking to survive.
"What are the new opportunities for new traffic on this line? There's not much that can replace the 85% of volume we've
lost", he said.
"Canadian Pacific has always been in the driver's seat. We've always been at risk because Ottawa Valley leases the line from
Canadian Pacific. At the end of the day CP has control, so the future of the company (OVR) has been in jeopardy since the
beginning".
Mike Lovecchio, a CPR spokesman, said the decision to reroute train traffic was absolutely a reflection of the economy.
"Traffic volume is way down. We have to make decisions to rationalize our own costs. As well, we have added capacity on our main
line", he said.
"From a cost perspective it's not feasible to maintain two corridors when only one is necessary".
Ottawa Valley isn't the only shortline railway in North America to be hit. Central West to Sault Ste. Marie and Okanagan Valley
Railway in British Columbia will also be affected by track changes.
Lovecchio refuted claims the changes were made following a dispute between OVR and CPR over rail line maintenance.
"These changes are entirely based on traffic volumes", he said, noting by the end of March Canadian Pacific traffic volume
was down 19%.
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