Locomotive fire pours fuel on fears Omnitrax will derail northern lifeline

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This article was published 30/08/2016 (3320 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fire on a Hudson Bay Railway locomotive in The Pas Monday has reignited concerns that rail service to Churchill may be eliminated entirely.

Omnitrax, which owns the railway and the Port of Churchill, has temporarily closed the port as a result of the fire, which RCMP say is suspicious. Although there are no grain shipments from the port this year it had been operating with a skeleton staff to handle resupply shipments to and from Nunavut communities.

In July, Omnitrax cut twice-weekly rail service from The Pas to Churchill to a single train.

However, Jim Scott, mayor of The Pas, isn’t pulling any punches. He said the communities along the rail line depend on rail service for the necessities of life and he is concerned Omnitrax is looking for excuses to halt operations.

“This could be a convenient reason for them to stop,” Scott said. “It’s a bully move by a corporation.”

Omnitrax has not said anything publicly about the fire or about any further changes planned for rail service. Company officials in Winnipeg, The Pas and Churchill could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The train scheduled to arrive in Churchill Wednesday would already have pulled out of The Pas when the fire occurred Monday night.

A group of provincial politicians and business and tourism leaders travelled to Churchill Monday for meetings with residents and business owners in the wake of July’s ports closure and layoffs and rail-service reduction. The delegation’s flight back to Winnipeg didn’t leave until 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, but they weren’t told about the fire prior to takeoff.

Scott and Churchill Mayor Mike Spence are members of a northern delegation that has tried unsuccessfully to meet with Omnitrax officials to discuss long-term solutions for the area.

Omnitrax previously said it is in negotiations to sell the railroad and the port to a consortium of northern First Nations led by Mathias Colomb chief Arlen Dumas. Details are scarce, but there appears to have been little progress on that front.

The province has said it will not subsidize the railway and discussions with federal government officials remain private.

The Pas has been battered by a series of devastating blows to the town’s economy with the recent announcement that Tolko’s pulp and paper mill will close in December — killing about 330 jobs — and the possbile relocation of the Aseneskak Casino from its location in nearby Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca