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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-07-20, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1988. PAGE 5. Railway era could end next week Cost, slowness drive local customers away Rust is gathering on the rails of Huron county ’ s railways and a hearing next week in Wingham may seal the fate of the CN line through Brussels to Wingham. CP also wants to abandon its line through Walton, Blyth and Auburn. BY KEITH ROULSTON A hearing scheduledin Wingham next Tuesday and Wednesday could mean the beginning of the end for the railways that were once an integral part of local community life. The Wingham hearing of the National Transportation Agency of Canada will decide the fate of the Canadian National Railway line from Listowel to Wingham through Brussels. The portion of the line that originally went from Wingham to Kincar­ dine was abandoned several years ago. Meanwhile, CP Rail has also announced its intention to seek abandonment of the Guelph to Goderich line which serves Walton and Blyth. No date has yet been announced for that hearing. In both cases the railways claim they are losing large amounts of money on the rail services. In figures circulated to back up its requesttothe Agency, CN says that only 114 carloads of traffic travelled the line in 1984; 99 in 1985 and 116 in 1986. The losses on each carload amounted to $2,462, $2,329 and $1,519 respectively. In January 1987 when CP Rail first made it known it would try to abandon its Goderich line, it said that fewer than 10 carloads a month went over its line. The figures show a sad decline from the days when the railway was the centre of economic and social activity in villages. The arrival of the train (and it happened several times a day) signalled a flurry of activity as passengers arrived and departed, the mail was put on the train or taken off, and box-cars of local goods were coupled onto freights for export to the world. But while some large users in Wingham such as Royal Homes and Hodgins Buildall have formed a committee with civic officials to oppose the abandon­ ment at next week’s hearings, local businesses that once made use of the railway will not be hard hit by the loss. The railway requires too large volume and is too slow to meet the needs of his busines, Neil McDonald of J.M. McDonald Lumber in Brussels said last week. “The only time I get into railway is when several dealers can buy together and bring in a carload,’’ Mr. McDonald said. Ironically when the railways went to bigger car sizes to make themselves more efficient, they made it harder for many businesses to make use of them, Mr. McDonald said. Lumber dealers, for instance, must watch they don’t get too much money tied up in inventory. Buying lumber by rail can still make sense if several dealers in a buying group get together but there is only one other lumber yard in the same buying group as McDonald’s locally and they aren’t on a rail line anyway. The other problem is speed, Mr. McDonald says. “Maybe we’re more demanding these days,” he says. The railway can take three or four weeks to deliver a carload of lumber, he says. “Time’s a big thing.” Time is also a big consideration for Doug Howson who’s in charge of shipping for Howson and Howson Ltd. potentially one of the largest users on CP’s line through Blyth. Here volume is not the problem. Howsons can mill enough flour in five hours to fill a freight car with 200,000 pounds of flour. The railway takes seven days, however, to take the car to Toronto, empty it and get it back to Blyth. Meanwhileoneofthe big Howson bulk tanker trucks hauled by Campbell Transport of Blyth make two trips to Toronto and backeach day with 90,000 pounds of flour. You have to be able to give customers same day service when they want a special batch of flour milled and delivered, Mr. Howson said. Volume isn’t the problem for Howsons on incoming loads of wheat either. The problem here is cost. Howsons bring most of their Durham wheat in by boat to Goderich then have a transport on the road all day travelling back and forth with load after load of wheat to be milled at Blyth. The cost of wheat by rail is $15 more than that delivered by boat, Mr. Howson says. The only place where the railways can be competitive with price and service is on long hauls such as shipping flour to Halifax for export, he says. At one time when Canadians were supplying flour to be shipped to Cuba Howson and Howson were shipping about 60 carloadsofflourayearoutof Blyth. That business changed when the European Economic Community won that market away from Canada and although there are indications Canada may be getting some of that market back, there are no indications yet how much that will be. Changing business patterns also account for the decline in use of the railway by McDonald’s Lumber. Where once lumber dealers brought in carloads from manufac­ turers, today there are lumber brokers who bring in carloads of lumber then ship smaller lots on to dealers, Neil McDonald said. For the dealers this is often more convenient than having to make up full carloads. A lot of lumber al so travels by piggy-back truck, with two truck tailers travelling on a flat-car until they are unloaded and trucked the rest of the way. The two local businesses have different stories about how hard the railways seem to work attracting business. CN, Mr. McDon­ ald says, hasn’t worked very hard getting his business. Mr. Howson however says CP does visit his business “once a year or so”. When the railway announced plans to abandon the line “they were going to do wonders for us” making up the service by trucking the mill’s products to other railway locations. Lately however, there hasn’t been much attention from CP. If the railway doesn’t seem too interested in gaining more business, the local communities often don’t seem very interest­ ed either in keeping the railway. When CP earlier had plans to close its line, Mr. Howsonsays, his company filed a protest but it was the only protest sent to the Agency before the deadline. Huron County sent a later protest, he said. Although Brussels, Morris and Grey have combined to more aggressively seek indu­ stry in the last year, Mr. McDonald, a Brussels councillor, doesn’t know if Brussels will protest the closure at next week’s hearing or not. Ruth Sauve, Brussels councillor and a member of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Industrial Committee said Tuesday she hopes Brussels will make a presentation at the hearing but doesn ’t know for sure if it will. Mr. McDonald doesn’t think the loss of the railway would be that detrimental to Brussels’ search for industry. If the village was trying to attract an industry that uses a lot ofbox cars it would hurt, he says, but with most small industry it wouldn’t hurt. Although Mr. Howson says “We’re going to miss the railway” his major concern is that the area get a better highway access to Highway 401. He is upset that the County of Huron is spending millions on the new Ball’s Bridge across the Maitland south of Goderich opening up County Road 15 as another east-west roadway when it should havebeen pressing for improvements to Highway 8 to speed traffic. Getting trucks to Highway 401 during the day is a hard drive, he says. While others seem to have already written off the railways as part of the future of the county, one Western Ontario man has other ideas. Peter Bowers, a freelance commercial artist from Owen Sound has spent the last Ontario Midwestern Rail Services wants to keep several of the railway lines through the regiongoing andclaimsitcouldmakethelines self-sufficient, even profitable if the government would give it the chance. No. R)/ Subdivision two. Rly Subdivision i CN Owan So uno O CN E»>., 1 CN Soulhamcxon CN Watarioo Spur O CN Kinardina CP Godarwzh CN Nawion CJfr CP O*on Sound O CN F«rpu»CP Ta aswrtar O CN FonJt <E>CP Elon CH Godarch few years trying to convince local govern­ ments, investors and senior governments that many local railway lines can live a productive life if a new regional railway line is set up. His Project ReRail says a $130,000 study conducted by Peat Marwick and commis­ sioned by the Ministry of Transportation in Ontario and Transport Canada shows the railway could potentially break even in its first year of operation and increase its profitability in the subsequent years. “Our service will be tailored to the customers needs, something that big railroads no longer offer on these or other branch lines, ’ ’ he said in a recent press release. “We also will be able to provide all customers with quick access to both railway’s national networks. His proposal for Ontario Midwestern Rail Services would see the current 627 miles of track in the area between London and Owen Sound, Brampton and Lake Huron, cut to 290 to350 miles, serving nine counties and more than 100 communities. Maps showing his proposal show that Wingham and Brussels would still be served by their current CN line but the Goderich-Guelph CP line would be abandoned in favour of the Goderich-Strat­ ford CN line. The key to the Midwestern proposal is government capital funding to help the regional railway take over CN and CP tracks and money to help rehabilitate the lines from their current state of disrepair. He says there are provisions for such funding under the National Transportation Act of 1988. He calls it transitional funding and says private investors are ready to invest in the regional railway once it has government support. “We believe it is not necessary that annual operating subsidies from any level of government are required beyond the initial funding,” he says. “Our alternative will require only a one-time capital cost assistance from government. We are certain that we can be operationally self-sufficient by offering good service, competitive rates and innovative ways of serving the area’s freight needs.” He points out that the railways were built in the mid to late 1800’s with considerable help from government and most were, until a few years ago, profitable. With proper management, he says, the lines can be profitable again. Whether he gets a chance to prove it or not, at least on the Listowel to Wingham CN line, may hang in the balance at next week’s hearings in Wingham. (Anyone wishing to make a written submission should provide 15 copies of their brief to the hearing. The hearing will be held in the auditorium of the Wingham Town Hall at 10 a.m.)