VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canada’s third biggest railway, BC Rail, added its inland marine unit to the list of subsidiaries up for sale on Friday, amid speculation the entire railway may soon be privatized, according to Reuters.
The railway, owned by the British Columbia government, said its Finlay Navigation unit “is not a core operation and does not fit into the railway’s long-term plans for restoring the company to financial health.”
BC Rail is already seeking a buyer for its BC Marine terminal operations at the Port of Vancouver and looking at leasing away about 400 kilometres (250 miles) of track in northern B.C. between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson.
Finlay Navigation provides barge and ferry services on lakes in northern British Columbia for Slocan Forest Products (Toronto:SFF.TO – News) and Canfor Corp. (Toronto:CFP.TO – News). BC Rail has said it expects to have little difficulty finding a buyer.
The sale of the subsidiaries, combined with the shutdown of BC Rail’s passenger train service this week, has sparked speculation the B.C. government plans to abandon its 2001 election pledge not to privatize the 2,400-km (1,500-mile) rail line.
Privatization presents a political conundrum for the ruling Liberal Party, which promised during last year’s election to make government more business oriented but were punished at the polls in the 1990s when they supported selling the railway.
Canada’s largest railways, Canadian Pacific (Toronto:CP.TO – News) and Canadian National (Toronto:CNR.TO – News), and shortline operator Omnitrax have all said they might be interested in taking over BC Rail if it is privatized or put up for lease.