The City of Sault Ste. Marie should know in the new year if it can move forward with a plan to salvage the Algoma Central Rail passenger line that runs between the Sault and Hearst.
The city, which is leading the charge to save the line, put out a request for proposals (RFP), with a deadline of Sept. 19, to hear from proponents interested in taking over operation of the tour train line. The line’s owner, CN Rail, simultaneously put out an RFP seeking a new operator for the passenger service.
City CAO Joe Fratesi, who chairs the ACR Passenger Service Working Group, said the working group is now vetting proposals from a shortlist, but that any of the four proponents that responded would offer a quality service to riders.
“They are names that, in the rail world, are recognized existing operators,” Fratesi said. “We’d be happy with any one of them, but we need to make sure that the business plan that they put to us and one that we pass on to the federal government is sound and reasonable, achievable and, at the end of the day, maintains those things that a year ago we said were important to protect.”
Those things include employment, significant economic impact, and access to cottages and tourist resorts, which will be impacted if the proposal does not go forward.
“There are many communities affected; there are many tourist operators affected,” Fratesi said. “So, not only are we talking about jobs, we’re talking about revenue to the government or economic activity, and we’re talking about the very fibre of some of these smaller more Northern communities that are at risk here because of the accessibility into and out of these communities if the rail doesn’t stop there.”
It’s been almost a year since the federal government announced a $2.2-million reprieve to help save the rail line from permanent closure. In November 2013, the federal government announced it would stop subsidizing the rail line, which was followed up by CN Rail’s own announcement that it would cease to operate the line by April 1, 2013.
In announcing the $2.2-million in funding last March, federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt cautioned the working group that an ongoing year-to-year federal subsidy wouldn’t be viable over the long term and advised advocates to find a more permanent solution.
“That’s not a way to have a business,” she said. “It’s not a way to grow economic development.”
Fratesi said the group is confident it can come up with a plan before the March 31 deadline, but there has been talk of asking for an extension of the subsidy to buy the group some time.
“I’m hopeful that will not be required, but that’s certainly an option if we get close to the end but need a little bit more time,” he said. “CN has been co-operative and the federal government has been co-operative, and we think because there’s enough on the table at risk here that it’s in everyone’s best interest that we try and do what’s required to see these two operations continue well into the future.”
The working group has retained the services of IBI Group, an architecture, planning, engineering, and technology firm with experience working in rail, and BDO, which released an economic assessment report last year that demonstrated passenger rail service in the Algoma district generates between $38 million and $48 million in annual economic activity.
Fratesi said, ideally, the working group wants to see an extended service in place that offers more than the minimal requirements CN had been offering. But the group acknowledges the plan has to be sustainable, and some concessions may be needed to make it work.
“If CN’s happy, and if our group is happy, and the proponent is prepared to move forward, we then will make a pitch to the federal government to stay in the game for whatever piece of the puzzle may be required of them,” he said.
