Brandon-based rail company interested in city-owned spur line

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This article was published 04/12/2018 (2662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Large industrial companies which rely on rail service in the Murray Industrial Park in St. James will continue to get those services, according to a deal to be presented to the City of Winnipeg’s executive policy committee (EPC) today.

For $1, the city’s administration is recommending selling the Murray Industrial Park spur line to Brandon-based Cando Rail Services. Companies in the park include Boeing Co. and MacDon Industries Ltd.

If approved by the EPC, the proposal would then to go to city council for approval.

“Cando Rail Services has the opportunity to tentatively purchase the Murray Industrial Spur from the City of Winnipeg, which would allow us to provide dedicated service to a growing industrial sector in that area,” Cando general manager Jay Cranney said Tuesday.

“The deal is currently being reviewed by Cando and the city, and we can provide a further update once that process is complete.”

Cando, formed in 1978, is a specialized rail support company that annually moves $22-billion worth of product on short lines between companies and the major railways.

According to a city report, while CP Rail currently operates the spur line, the land it runs on is owned by the city. Canadian Pacific has told the city it no longer wants to operate the line.

When the industrial park was created in 1975, the city agreed with CP Rail that as long as CP provides rail service on the spur line, the city would pay all the costs of ongoing maintenance.

There is no end date to the agreement. Since October 2016, the city has spent $160,000 fixing the rail spur.

Area Coun. Scott Gillingham said the city has spent even more over the years.

“From what I have been told, the city has been paying for maintenance and repairs since 1975,” Gillingham (St. James) said. “There have been ongoing costs to the city, but the spur line is still needed by at least one business in that area… and the spur line is in an area that is home to several significant businesses that employ thousands of people.”

Earlier this year, Cando approached the city about purchasing the rail spur.

According to a city report, if the land and spur line is sold to Cando, it would mean the City of Winnipeg would no longer have to maintain the rail line or pay to decommission it someday. Cando would also pay property tax, and rail service would continue in the industrial park.

For the sale to go through, council would have to waive the more than decade-old policy of not selling city-owned property directly to a buyer. But it is believed there would be few, if any, other interested suitors for the spur line.

A spokeswoman for CentrePort Canada said while the Murray Industrial Park falls within the 20,000 acres that make up the inland port, the spur line being discussed only services that area and not CentrePort as a whole.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca