Province agrees to subsidize some operational costs to maintain Cape Breton rail

This file photo from 2015 shows one of the last trains to operate on the Genesee & Wyoming line in Cape Breton. Under a new preservation agreement, the existing rail line between St. Peter's Junction, near Port Hawkesbury, and Sydney will be maintained.

By Nancy King | Cape Breton Post | 1 September 2017

SYDNEY, N.S. — The province has reached an agreement with the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway Ltd. that will see the Cape Breton portion of the railway preserved for a period in exchange for the province reimbursing operational expenses.But while the year-long agreement was announced Friday, it was back-dated to March, Minister of Business Geoff MacLellan said in an interview. The deal may be renewed with the approval of Treasury Board.“It’s incumbent on me, and we’ve asked for this, that I go back to Treasury Board to explain the relationship, to explain the details of the investment, to explain the total expenditures that have been made,” MacLellan said, adding they didn’t want to start with a two- or three-year dealUnder the preservation agreement, the existing rail line between St. Peter's Junction, near Port Hawkesbury, and Sydney will be maintained. The company agreed to not apply to abandon the line and the province will reimburse what it described in a news release as valid expenses up to $60,000 a month.

A spokesman for the Scotia Railway Development Society says they intend to spend much of 2017 working to continue to maintain the railway in Cape Breton and encourage improved public policy around rail in the province. © Cape Breton PostSYDNEY — A spokesman for the Scotia Railway Development Society predicts 2017 will be a busy year for the group as it works to not only maintain the railway in Cape Breton but also to encourage better public policy around rail in the province.

Greg MacLeod said the society’s prime objective was to prevent Genesee & Wyoming, owner of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, from tearing up the Cape Breton portion of the tracks and selling them. For months, the railway has been in a position where it could apply to abandon the line but it hasn’t done so.

“We succeeded in that,” he said. “Our next objective is where do we go from here, the future development, and there’s a number of possibilities on the table.”

In a recent interview, Nova Scotia Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan said Genesee & Wyoming has not taken any steps to abandon the railway. He also noted that in recent discussions around the future of port development in Sydney harbour, the railway has shown a willingness to be at the table.

The railway has said it will work with the team marketing the port of Sydney for development, but that it wouldn't necessarily change its plans to apply to abandon the line. Rail will be critical to any future port development and the port has been identified as the only real potential source of new railway traffic.

Trains can move cargo far more cheaply than trucks, so why do we allow railways to abandon track?MARY MACPHERSON & MADELINE LAWLER
Published August 26, 2016

RAILWAYS are a driving force in the economy, offering the cheapest and cleanest form of ground transportation. For almost 20 years, rail companies have been allowed to regulate themselves and abandon lines, with almost no government intervention or concern for communities they serve.

Rail companies are profit driven. Moving traffic to trucks on taxpayer-funded highways is cheaper for them than running a train on low-traffic lines they have to maintain. But is this really better for communities, the economy and the environment?

How about protecting Nova Scotia taxpayers’ investments in our highways by diverting more truck traffic to railways? Rail could help trucking companies that face driver shortages and, in the long run, unstable fuel prices.

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The Scotia Rail Development Society (SRDS) is calling for Nova Scotians to encourage their MP to support the railway on Cape Breton Island. SRDS, aligned with the Sustainable Transportation Action Team (STAT) with the Ecology Action Centre, is advocating to keep the railway.