Forget hydro conversion, fix the rail line, Churchill mayor says

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This article was published 30/06/2017 (3034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mayor of Churchill says he’s received an outside opinion that the rail washouts that have thrown his community into turmoil could be repaired within 45 days for less than $2 million.

Michael Spence said Friday Keewatin Rail Co., based in The Pas, provided him with the estimate after viewing aerial photographs along with evidence provided by adventurist Steve Green, who rode a dirtbike along the rail line from Thompson to Churchill in mid-June.

Spence said instead of focusing on subsidizing air shipments of food and converting the town’s homes from propane heat to electric, politicians should get their priorities straight and work to repair the rail line.

“By focusing on the rail line, that fixes everything else,” he said, referring to an ever-mounting list of costs to his community of 900 resulting from the month-long closure of a section of the line extending north from Gillam.

The province is working with Manitoba Hydro on a plan to convert homes in Churchill to electrical heat, Premier Brian Pallister said Friday. There are 337 provincially owned housing units in the town, almost all of which rely on propane heat. A further 100 privately owned homes are heated by propane, which is normally shipped to the community by rail.

Pallister said he didn’t have a cost estimate or a precise timeline for the conversions, but hoped a significant number could be carried out by winter.

“Clearly the more homes we can equip with hydro capacity the better,” he told a news conference while two of his cabinet ministers were up north meeting with Spence and other community leaders.

The province is also monitoring food prices in the northern community, which has relied on air shipments since the northern rail line was closed due to washouts May 23. Denver-based Omnitrax, which owns the line and the port facilities in Churchill, has said rail service will be out indefinitely.

The premier said he was happy Ottawa had extended a northern food subsidy program to the community. Manitoba is also looking at offering food subsidies to “make sure we are assisting the community as much as possible.”

But Pallister said it was premature to discuss possible government subsidies to repair the rail line until Ottawa has made a commitment to the port itself. He wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week seeking some clarification on the matter, he said.

“There are ineffective ways to deal with this issue. The most ineffective would be for me to jump the gun and start talking about subsidies when I don’t even know if the federal government has the slightest interest in maintaining the Port of Churchill,” he said, adding: “We need to know where that port fits into the federal government’s plans so we can determine what needs to be done.”

But Spence said everyone’s focus should be on fixing the rail line as quickly as possible.

The mayor flew in a helicopter over 130 kilometres of track Tuesday, during which he viewed six washed out areas, he said.

“All it requires is ballast,” he said of the required repairs.

Spence is also pushing for a meeting as early as next week with federal and provincial representatives and Omnitrax to discuss the needed repairs.

Pallister told reporters his officials were in touch with Omnitrax this week seeking to expedite an assessment of the damage to the line.

There’s been no word on when that assessment will be completed.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca