by COLLEEN HAWKESFORD of the Weyburn Review
A local interest group from the Pangman-Ogema-Viceroy area has bid on the Assiniboia sub rail line with the hope of converting it to a short line.
While their first bid was turned down by CP Rail, committee members remain confident a second bid will meet with acceptance.
"We just hope we can make it work," said Ed Howse, a member of the committee from Pangman. "Our main objective right now is to get hold of the rail line before it comes up for dismantlement."
The committee was formed last April and is receiving assistance from the South Central Transportation Planning Committee and the provincial department of highways.
Howse said response in the local area has been tremendous and the attitude toward the purchase is optimistic.
"We just had a general meeting last Tuesday in Ogema and we had about 100 people out," Howse said. "It seems to be fairly positive."
Howse said several local farmers that already haul to terminals in Weyburn and Corinne are ready for a change and would like to see the rail line remain in Pangman.
"There's probably at least four million bushels on this line and if it all started heading to Weyburn or ConAgra or whatever, the roads are going to go," Howse said. "They're going already and it hasn't even started yet."
The federal and provincial governments are contributing 16 per cent to the purchase, and Howse said the committee is looking to local RMs for additional support. The balance must be raised privately.
"We have to borrow the balance right away and then hope to sell shares or whatever," Howse said.
Howse was unable to say what amount the committee's bid to CP was for.
David Marit, president of the South Central Transportation Planning Committee, (SCTPC) has been acting as an adviser to the committee. He said both local producers and the provincial government feel hauling grain by rail is cheaper and easier than trucking.
"I've been working with a few groups as far as short line rail and trying to buy the branch lines out but that's about the only thing you can really do, and hopefully keep the grain on a local level," Marit said.
The Assiniboia sub is scheduled to close in mid-October. Marit said CP gave local RMs 60 days notice, but the RM will not make any decisions until the local committee hears back from CP on their bid.
Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Judy Bradley said the provincial government will offer money up front, but it is in the hands of the local committee to make it a successful operation.
"We can put in 16 per cent but they would have to be able to operate it and keep it viable," Bradley said during a speech at the Weyburn-Big Muddy NDP's annual meeting last week.
Howse said rail cars would be available to the committee, it would just be a matter of finding a way to pull them.
"We have to either contract with a short-line operator or else go into that step ourselves as well," Howse said.
At the same time, Marit said the SCTPC will continue to examine closed lines in the area such as the Bromhead and Amulet subs to see if they could be purchased. CP has already sold the lines to a company in Winnipeg.
"There's nothing saying that as a group we can't go to this company and offer to buy that rail line from that company before they dismantle it," Marit said.
The SCTPC's next project is a two-day road trip throughout the area to examine the status of roads. Marit said the committee will look at the roads the provincial government chose to spend money on, as well as other roads that need repairs.
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