Conflict threatens to derail repairs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2017 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The prospects of getting the Hudson Bay Railway’s flood-damaged line to Churchill repaired before freeze-up seems remote unless a significant conflict that’s been ongoing for more than a year is resolved in the next few days.

The flooded rail line from near Gillam to Churchill has been shut down since late May. An engineer’s report released this week and commissioned by Omnitrax to assess damage estimates the cost of repairs at $43.5 million.

But that is likely academic because no one — neither Omnitrax, the Denver-based owner of the rail line, nor the federal or provincial governments — is prepared to pay those invoices if they were to materialize.

Omnitrax, which has made it clear for some time that it wants to sell the line and exit the Manitoba market, has also said it does not intend to cover the costs of the repair and is now in dispute with the federal government over its legal obligation to do so.

On Thursday, Peter Touesnard, chief commercial officer at Omnitrax, said in a prepared statement: “As noted in the report (published Wednesday evening), AECOM has readied contract documents to tender the work for repairs. We have instructed AECOM to begin the formal bid process, but final decisions cannot be made until governments reach a decision on funding.”

Churchill Mayor Mike Spence was not impressed with the release of the report nor with Omnitrax’s ambivalence about actually seeing the work completed.

“They want out. They should not worry about getting it done,” Spence said on Thursday. “It is the federal government’s responsibility now.”

Spence said he has assurances from the Prime Minister’s Office the rail line would be “up and running by the end of October.”

He did not elaborate on how he believes that will be accomplished but said, “I continue to reach out to the federal government. That is where it (the future of the rail line) needs to be.”

On Thursday, Cameron Ahmad, a spokesman for the prime minister, said, “As we have always maintained, our government remains engaged with all involved parties, including the mayor, and we are committed to finding a resolution to this situation for the people of Churchill. We continue to maintain that Omnitrax has an obligation to live up to their obligations to fix the rail line — and we expect them to act quickly in this regard, or work with other partners who are willing to fix the line.”

AECOM’s report on the Hudson Bay Railway has been completed for at least two weeks. Its analysis is for a 60-day construction period that must begin very soon to ensure “safe passage of light loaded trains in early November 2017.”

The report details the damage to the 248-kilometre stretch of track that has left the town of Churchill cut off from ground transportation for three-and-a-half months, and its future well-being uncertain.

The report says the so-called Herchmer subdivision sustained extensive damage at approximately 130 locations, including damaged bridges and separated culverts.

“Critical components for the repair are the construction of an ATCO-like camp on rail cars and the availability of air dumps and an automated conveyor train,” the report said. “AECOM is currently readying contract documents to tender the work for repairs to commence by early September.”

Even if the tenders are made available for contractors to bid on in time, contractor availability, procurement delays, equipment availability or early freeze-up may prevent the work from being completed on time.

But contracts have not been tendered nor is there indication when they will be.

Brandon-based Cando Rail Services is a major player in the rail line repair business and short-line railroad operation. It employs about 600 people across the country and currently has crews out doing rail repair work for both Canadian National and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Company founder and chairman, Gord Peters, said if the contract tenders for work detailed in the AECOM report had been released, his company would know about it.

“It is late in the game… and that’s probably one of the toughest rail line sites to work on in North America,” Peters said.

“To me, I think it would be a monumental task at the end of the day to get it done (by the beginning of November).”

The report says any non-immediate repairs not completed in the 60-day period would be deferred to the spring of 2018 and would require additional mobilization and demobilization costs.

— with files from Dylan Robertson

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca