6 May 2009
Quiet Tracks in the Ottawa Valley
Ottawa Valley Ontario - Area residents may not have
noticed, but things have been a little quieter around the railroad tracks lately.
As of the end of April, the Ottawa Valley Railway, a RailAmerica property, announced that due to a major decrease in business, layoff
notices have been issued to 30 affected employees.
"Thirty people had to be laid off as a direct result of the Canadian Pacific Railway redirecting traffic from the Ottawa Valley
Railway to its own line," said RailAmerica media relations contact Michelle King.
CP Rail is consolidating freight trains and is able to route the reduced freight service over to its own system through Toronto.
According to RailAmerica, the drop in OVR's business is a direct result of a decline in business from CP Rail, is OVR's biggest
customer, accounting for approximately 85 percent of the overall traffic. Shipments for Tembec, a paper company, and other local
businesses, represent the remaining 15 percent of the traffic.
"It is completely in Canadian Pacific Railway's hands," said King, "and is a direct result of the downturn in the
economy."
Positions affected will be mainly in the transportation department, including train dispatchers, locomotive engineers, and conductors.
RailAmerica states that OVR is acting in accordance with the provisions of the Canadian Labour Code with the applicable bargaining
agreements.
Mississippi Mills Coun. Denzil Ferguson is a resident of Pakenham, said he can hear the train across the river from his home.
"You can normally hear it here in the village," he said.
Ferguson said many residents he has spoken to over the last few days said they were so used to the sound of the train, they hadn't
noticed yet that it wasn't going by.
The reroute could last until the end of 2009, which is "pretty significant," said Ferguson.
The OVR is a shortline railroad that operates nearly 550 kilometres of track between Coniston, Ont. (east of Sudbury) and Smiths
Falls, with CP interchanges at Sudbury and Smiths Falls.
According to RailAmerica, OVR was moving more than 60,000 carload per year. Items included chemicals, forest products, and intermodal,
a service which offers the flexibility of local truck pickup and delivery with the use of rail to move large volumes over long
distances.
Ferguson said he wonders if the layoffs will result in reduced maintenance at the railway crossings.
"There are a fair number (of crossings) in Mississippi Mills," he said, noting that there have been a number of issues over
the years with maintenance. "It's not that they weren't doing it, but there have been issues."
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