Milepost 60 on Canadian Pacific's Chalk River Subdivision - 12 Nov 2010 Ben MacMurchy.

4 August 2011

Sad Day for the County

Petawawa Ontario - Mayor Bob Sweet is calling the impending dismantling of the Canadian Pacific Railway a tragedy, warning that once the line is gone it can never come back.
 
With CP officially terminating operations between North Bay to Smiths Falls, the corporation has confirmed it will begin tearing up the Chalk River Subdivision shortly.
 
The first phase will see 25 miles taken out between Renfrew and Pembroke. However, Mayor Sweet told councillors he expects the process to move briskly from there.
 
In total, 170 miles of abandoned rail bed will be removed in the next two years, he added, marking the end of an era not only for the town, which had the railway as far back as the 1880s, but for the nation.
 
"It's a sad day for Renfrew County and for Petawawa," said Mayor Sweet. "This is the thing that united Canada. Our forefathers fought for this at a huge expense of putting the line in."
 
The fate of the 104-mile segment of the line between Smiths Falls and CFB Petawawa appeared sealed in January 2010 when stakeholders were notified about Canadian Pacific's intent to discontinue and sell the Ottawa Valley Railway. After CP diverted traffic off the line, shortline operator RailAmerica terminated its lease with CP.
 
This launched a process under the Canada Transportation Act that laid out specific time periods for various stakeholders to express interest in purchasing the track. Since then, however, no interested parties came forward with a business plan to purchase and run the line.
 
Both Renfrew and Lanark counties had agreed they had common interest in keeping the CP line intact and appealed to the federal government to impose a moratorium. Ottawa refused to step in, stating that CP was following the decommissioning process and respecting the regulations.
 
Mayor Sweet, who is also county warden, fears the loss of the CPR will degrade the county's ability to attract businesses, entrepreneurs, and corporations.
 
"We don't have a railroad and we don't have an airline. The only way we can get our merchandise and our products to market is currently on two lanes of asphalt," explained Mayor Sweet. "Down the road we could be missing out on a huge opportunity because we don't have that mode of transportation. From an economic development point of view it puts us in an extremely weak position."
 
While the mayor acknowledged federal and provincial intentions to expand Highway 17 to four lanes from Arnprior to the upper Ottawa Valley, that project could take another 30 years to complete.
 
"We already have a mode of transportation in place," he remarked. "It's tragic and it's sad that a process that brought us together being systematically removed. Once it's gone, it's gone. That's a tragedy, it really is."
 
Renfrew County has passed a resolution to initiate the process of acquiring the rail bed with a letter of intent for the right of first refusal with CP. Such a move could open up opportunities for economic development, tourism, and a trail system.
 
The Beachburg Subdivision of CN Rail was recently saved from a similar fate, thanks to an agreement signed with Transport Pontiac-Renfrew. The group hopes to start with freight and then move into commuter rail within three years.
 
Sean Chase.