17 June 2009
Provincial Funding Won't Put Huron Freight Run Back on Track
Sault Ste. Marie Ontario - The president of Huron
Central Railway says he's not playing a game of chicken with the provincial government - Mario Brault really plans to pull up stakes,
no matter what happens now.
"I'm not making this announcement to negotiate with the government," said Brault Tuesday from Sault Ste. Marie, where he had
travelled from Montreal to meet local workers.
The company announced late Monday its 300-kilometre freight line between the Sault and Sudbury is no longer economically
viable. Operations are to end 15 Aug 2009 on the western segment of the railroad, to McKerrow; the eastern segment, from
McKerrow to Sudbury, will continue to operate to 31 Oct 2009 to accommodate the Domtar paper mill in Espanola.
Essar Steel Algoma is the line's primary client, shipments of plate and primarily coil, recently dropped to two days a week in the
wake of the lingering economic recession that has seen demand for steel virtually dry up.
Forty-five jobs are at stake, 22 of them based in Sault Ste. Marie.
Since 2006, and more loudly over the winter, Brault had called on the Ontario government to match commitments from Ottawa to share
one-third of $33 million costs to upgrade the tracks. It's so run down in places that trains have to reduce speeds to an
estimated 10 kilometres an hour from an average of 25 km/h.
Shortline rail companies signed an agreement with the Quebec and federal governments two years ago that saw equal funding of $75
million to upgrade all the lines over five years; a plan to do the same here failed.
"In Ontario, it's a very difficult exercise to convince the government to participate in funding like that," Brault said.
Brault stressed that even if the government were to commit at the 11th hour, it wouldn't be enough to keep Huron Central in the region.
He said orders are down by half from a year ago, and that volumes were on a steady decline for the last three or four years, well
before the slowdown that began in earnest last fall. Indeed, it's "been a difficult railway to operate" ever since Huron
Central was created to lease it from Canadian Pacific railway in 1997.
Huron Central reported a $2.1 million operating loss in 2008, despite generating $7.4 million in revenue from handling about 16,000
carloads of freight.
Mayor John rowswell has long championed track upgrades as among four local projects to turn Sault Ste. Marie into a hub of
transportation. Rowswell expressed surprise Tuesday, but remains unbowed as to the city's prospects.
"If it's not possible to get Huron Central to reconsider, it suggests someone else might be looking at this railroad - and there
will be someone else - because there will be funding to upgrade the tracks," said Rowswell Tuesday.
The president of a group advocating for improvements to alternative transportation in Canada warned that once a rail line goes, it's
almost certainly gone for good.
"Because maintenance stops, the line very rapidly gets to the point where it would be very costly to return to service. A railway
has to be inspected continuously," said David Jeanes of Transport 2000 Canada.
Jeanes also asked stakeholders to consider the environmental effect of turning 16,000 rail cars into transport trucks, not to mention
wear and tear on the road.
"In southern Ontario, the biggest problem with the 401 continually expanding lanes is because of truck traffic,"
Sault MPP David Orazietti agreed rail transport eases pressure on road infrastructure, and said he and the rest of the provincial
government's Northern caucus supports improved railbeds in Northern Ontario. However, actual dollars "is something that to this
point has been evasive. "That money should be flowing," said Orazietti, at a funding announcement for Ontario highways.
"What we don't want is more pressure on our highway infrastructure."
Brenda Stenta, spokesperson for Essar Steel, said the company is "assessing our options" in the absence of a shortline
provider, but it is premature to expand on that. "When we have completed our review, we will have a better understanding of the
implications."
Frank Dobrovnik.
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