CN to reinstitute moratorium on dropping grain-dependent branch lines

MONTREAL (April 2, 2001) — Canadian National Railway Co. will re-institute a moratorium on grain-dependent branch line abandonments in Western Canada.

The moratorium is expected to stay in place until the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba find consensus on how to balance road and rail transportation networks, the company said.

Tellier stressed that forced-access running rights, such as those being proposed by Denver-based OmniTRAX would imperil light-density lines on the Prairies.

“There is only a certain amount of traffic on these lines,” said Tellier. “Forced access would divide already-marginal revenues between two carriers.

Operating costs would also increase because of duplication of service. In the end light-density grain dependent branch lines would be pushed from marginal viability into non-viability.”

The moratorium comes at a time when low international grain prices threaten to hurt Prairie farmers. There is a need to keep transportation costs as low as possible, Tellier said.