(The following story by Adrian Ewins appeared on the Western Producer website on February 12.)
SASKATOON, Sask. — Canadian Pacific Railway has agreed to haul producer cars off a branch line in northeastern Saskatchewan, following a mediation hearing involving the railway, local farmers and the Canadian Transportation Agency.
But CP also says there’s a good chance it will sell or shut down the White Fox subdivision before too long.
“Given the history of the line and the traffic that is on it, it’s a strong candidate for discontinuance,” said CP spokesperson Leah Olson.
White Fox is not included on CP’s official list of lines it has destined for discontinuance in the next three years. A line must be on the list for at least 12 months before it can be abandoned.
Olson said it will now be up to local farmers and community groups to show prospective owners that the line has a viable future.
“This is an opportunity for them to bump the volume up and make it a strong candidate for a short line or another group that may be interested in running the line,” she said, adding CP has made no commitment for service beyond 2003-04.
A representative of the farmers who have been fighting for the right to ship producer cars off the line this year said area producers will do their best to ship as much grain as possible.
“We want the line to stay here long term,” said Ron Shymanski, who farms near Choiceland, Sask., adding the producers’ first choice would be for CP to continue operating the line.
While the long-term future of the line is in doubt, the farmers have gained assurances that they’ll be able to ship producer cars for at least the remainder of this crop year.
The two sides reached an agreement during a mediation session in Saskatoon in late January conducted by the Canadian Transportation Agency.
The 25 farmers involved in the dispute had filed a level of service complaint against CP in late December, asking the agency to order the railway to provide cars to farmers who want to ship from three loading sites along the line at White Fox, Garrick and Choiceland.
The railway had refused to provide cars, telling the farmers they could instead load producer cars at Nipawin, a larger centre at the southwestern end of the branch line.
CP had delisted the loading sites along the line following the 2002-03 crop year, when drought left area farmers with insufficient grain to meet the railway’s minimum train run of 25 cars. The previous year 125 producer cars were shipped in four train runs.
Both sides told the agency they were willing to go through mediation rather than the lengthy, expensive and legalistic complaint hearing process.
While full details of the agreement reached through mediation will remain confidential, both sides said they were satisfied with the outcome.
The railway agreed to pick up producer cars at Choiceland and White Fox, but not Garrick, with the 25-car minimum remaining in place.
While no timetable has been set for service to resume, Shymanski said he expects to see cars by the end of February.
Orders were placed for 27 producer cars last fall, and Shymanski said those farmers are anxiously awaiting the year’s first train run.
“No one hauled their grain out,” he said. “We never lost any orders and that’s a big plus.”
Olson said CP hasn’t changed its position that it would be more efficient and cost effective to centralize producer car shipping in Nipawin.
“This is a short-term solution to see what sort of traffic volume can come out of that area,” she said.