Efforts to fix link hit as sale falls through
CHURCHILL, Man. — Residents of Churchill are devastated after learning efforts to restore rail service to the northern Manitoba town have fallen apart.
Hudson Bay Railway said talks broke down on Tuesday after months of negotiation to transfer ownership of the crippled rail line to a consortium of northern communities.
The railway, owned by Denverbased Omnitrax, would only say a sale to the consortium might no longer be possible. “Despite our best efforts to find common ground on certain key issues, it now appears that this transaction has fallen apart,” the company said in a statement. “This outcome is unexpected and very unfortunate. We offer our apologies to all those who depend on the line.”
That’s cold comfort for Rhoda deMulles, who owns the local hardware store with her husband and can’t afford to keep flying in supplies. “We are not going to make it,” she said.
“This town can’t do it,” Dale deMulles added.
The rail line was damaged by severe flooding more than a year ago and Omnitrax has said it cannot afford the repairs. Since then, goods and people have had to be flown into the subarctic community at much higher cost.
Federal regulators said last month the Hudson Bay Railway has a legal obligation to fix and maintain the line, although the company has said it will appeal that ruling.
Christian Sinclair, chief of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and cochair of the One North consortium negotiating to take ownership of the rail line, said he was completely surprised by Hudson Bay Railway’s statement. “We were caught by surprise and we are still working together as a consortium to get a deal done here.”
Repairs to the railway must start within two weeks in order to be completed before winter descends on the community, deMulles said. Without the rail, they will have to order a year’s worth of supplies to be brought in by a cargo ship from Quebec.
It has meant costs for packaging and shipping are completely unsustainable, they said. But locking the door for good will be the very last option. “Our life is Churchill,” Dale deMulles said.
Churchill is critically low on propane, a fuel used to heat many buildings. “It goes back to no rail line, and that’s what the problem is,” said Mayor Mike Spence. “Last year the province had to bring propane in by marine vessel which is the first it’s ever happened in this community.”
On Monday, as temperatures sat around -2 C, the Amundsen icebreaker, a research ship that has spent the past six weeks exploring Hudson Bay, pulled up to the now-closed port.
It’s arrival brought experts, scientists and politicians, including Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, north for a two-day workshop exploring climate change and globalization of the Arctic. Carr said he is aware the province and community are working to rectify the propane situation, and he hopes a similar outcome will follow for the rail line. “That can’t come soon enough,” he said.