Well said.
It’s a shame that Ontario didn’t use ONR to purchase the eastern half of the Ottawa Valley route before it was torn up a few years ago.
Of course, the current Ontario government could decide that freight rail subsidies are a waste of money.
Many of the articles I’ve read about the Huron Central, some old-some recent, said the HC operated the tracks leased from the CP. Does the CP still own the tracks?
One article said the CP held some trackage rights, making me think they might be ‘cherry picking’ some business. If that is still the case, maybe having CP relinqish their rights might raise the number of car loads the HC can account for. I believe it was one of the older articles and the number of yearly car loads it stated at the HC’s start was slightly over the 100 load per mile threshold.
Jeff
Sounds similar to the arrangement IC used when they spun off the Iowa line to Chicago Central and the Alton Main to Chicago, Missouri & Western. IC retained the terminal trackage in the Chicago and St. Louis areas, keeping the good traffic sources.
There’s basically nothing on that line though. It was just a bypass for Montreal-bound through freights. Once CP decided to route their Montreal container trains through Toronto (longer transit distance but no longer require maintenance on a secondary route) there was no longer any reason to keep the majority of it.
There was the Canadian Forces base at Petawawa, but it could have been maintained via a spur/shortline from the Ottawa Valley if the army really wanted to maintain it. The rest of the Chalk River line had no reason to exist anymore as a through route.
The line was located in Ontario, but it would mainly benefit Quebec, and it would have kept Ottawa on a thru line. Maybe it would have needed to be a federal priority to have been saved.
Ironic that ‘back in the day’ carriers would actually build line simply to have a line that did not have any on line industry so that ‘through’ trains could actually be able to operate more than a few miles without being delayed by another job working on line industries.
Ya, it is owned by CP is is under a lease until 2040. There are some mines near Sudbury on the line that CP serves, so a bit of cherry picking for sure.
I think a large part of the problem here is that the railroad had infastructure that is sub-par and had to endure long periods of depressed traffic from one of its biggest sources, Algoma Steel, as it restructured.
If this falls through the cracks, it will represent a serious failure by government to preserve infrastructure that is vital to national interest. It will force the closure of a major paper mill, one which just received significant government funding for upgrades, and it will significantly erode the competitive position of a large sawmill and steel mill, putting employment at risk. Not only that, but it will dramatically reduce any future economic prospects in the region and put an unsustainable amount of strain on other infrastructure.
There are a variety of routes this deal could take, but it is critical that one is struck so that when 2021 arrives, there are still trains running between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.
[quote user=“cv_acr”]
There’s basically nothing on that line though. It was just a bypass for Montreal-bound through freights. Once CP decided to route their Montreal container trains through Toronto (longer transit distance but no longer require maintenance on a secondary route) there was no longer any reason to keep the majority of it
A bit of an update come out today. Diesel Electric Services of Sudbury is looking to take over the line in partnership with Ontario Northland with a possibility of passenger services. The Ontario Government doesn’t want to give any more money to G&W. The Minister of Northern Ontario Development and Mines and the Premier visited Diesel Electric Services. They have been approached by the government in the past to gauge their interest in taking over the line. Hoping this works out. Diesel Electric Services did not have kind words for G&W.
You’re right, and you might remember that I said basically the same thing in one of ttrraaffiicc’s threads about the Ottawa Valley earlier this year.
But I still think it’s a shame that our Provincial and Federal governments failed to step in where private enterprise failed in this case.
Hopefully something can be arranged for the Huron Central line.
It’s possible that Sault Ste. Marie will lost 2/3 of its rail connections very shortly. At this point, the Sault-Sudbury rail link is unlikely to survive beyond December, at which point it will be abandoned and removed due to lack of government support. Less talked about is the ACR. CN has ceased service between Sault and Franz where the line crosses with CP. They are still running between there and Hearst for interchange. It seems likely that the portion to the Soo will see abandonment in the near future as there isn’t any forthcoming traffic to sustain it.
Or, more likely, the CN reopens the track and picks up the traffic that previously used the HCR.
The traffic that uses the HCR will switch to truck or go through the States.
You know this how?
I second that Backshop. How does he know? Paper mills for one prefer, and want boxcar over truck and where rail is available they use it. Paper weighs out before it cubes out, and you can stuff alot of heavy paper rolls in a 60’ Hi-Cube. Plus how many tanks of clay slurry and chemicals arrive by rail for said paper mills? Not to mention we don’t know what the clause is for this line once G&W pulls out. I assume if no operator is found the line it reverts back to CP. Someone correct me if I’m wrong on this. If anyone can clarify. Does Essar Steel in the Soo produce plate steel? Or coil?
Algoma Steel has said that they would shift the eastbound product to truck. Eacom and Domtar would be marooned without the CP line. It is widely believed that once G&W is gone that CP will begin the discontinuance process. They want nothing to do with it.
Seems like this issue is getting some attention.
Hopefully Ontario will find a solution to save the HCR
I wonder if the province could work with OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund and Jaguar to take this over…
Definitely starting to look that way. Though what the deal will actually be is still uncertain. Personally, I would like to see G&W gone.
I thought about the same thing, but then I realized that the Provence of Ontario would be in a conflicted situation to give subsidies to a railroad that benefits the pension fund for their government employees.