By IAN ROSS
For tourist outfitter Al Errington, having reliable passenger train service is part of selling a one-of-kind Northern Ontario outdoors experience.
Many of the 1,000 guests he entertains annually arrive by rail at his Wilderness Island Vacation Lodge on the western edge of the Chapleau Game Preserve.
Some fish for monster northern pike or fat-bellied pickerel.
Others come from around the world to spend hours viewing and photographing grazing moose and bald eagles in the bays of Wabatongushi Lake.
The island resort, which is only a 15-minute boat ride from the Algoma Central Railway (ACR) track, attracts tourists from southern Ontario, U.S., Australia, Europe and Asia to the remote and secluded vacation spot.
For each visitor who spends about $700 per head for a typical four-night stay, that journey north by rail is an essential part of the overall package.
“People will travel a long ways for that type of product,” says Errington.
But when the ACR’s parent company, Canadian National Railway (CN), made revisions to their upcoming 2007 summer passenger schedule, reducing service from four trains per week to three, it threw Errington’s booking plans into disarray.
For many outfitters, cottagers and residents along the 470-kilometre long Sault Ste. Marie-to-Hearst line, the unpredictable schedule and what they view as deteriorating service has prompted them to act.
Their Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains wants to take the Agawa Canyon tour train and the passenger run out of the hands of CN and into a proposed not-for-profit management board to handle all the bookings, scheduling and marketing.
They say high-quality eco-tourism is key to rebuilding the railway’s tourism service.
A letter-writing campaign is underway to federal and provincial cabinet ministers to free up more money to revitalize the service.
In his discussion with CN officials, Errington says he fully realizes North America’s largest rail carrier would rather haul freight than sightseers. But a solution must be found. As president of the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association (NOTO), Errington says his industry is getting shortchanged from government even though it employs more people than forestry, mining and agriculture combined and generates $2.2 billion in provincial taxes annually.
Locally, the tour train and passenger service represents a $35 to $40 million economic impact in the Sault Ste. Marie area.
Coalition chairperson Linda Savory Gordon, an Algoma University College professor, says the area’s rugged natural beauty and “geographic gems” like Agawa Canyon and Lake Superior, that once inspired the Group of Seven’s body of artwork, must be better promoted. Both say the business potential has never been fully tapped and the ACR can be a key element in doing that.
“The vision and the imagination has not been there,” says Savory Gordon. “We talk about diversifying the Northern economy and this is a real tourism asset.”
As a transplanted Torontonian, she fell in love with the area years before after visiting a friend’s cottage in Achigan at Mile 44. She became so enamored with travelling by train to reach this remote outpost, it persuaded her to buy property there.
But that special feeling doesn’t necessarily resonate with Ian Thomson, CN’s public and community relations regional manager. He says the schedule changes come down to available resources.
CN inherited the tour train and passenger service after acquiring the Wisconsin Central Railway in 2001. The line is now part of their Eastern Division.
But for most of its 107-year history, the ACR’s main staple was hauling logs and iron ore sinter to the pulp and steel mills in Sault Ste. Marie. When Algoma Steel closed the Wawa ore division in 1998, a good chunk of freight traffic and revenue was lost.
Thomson says the Sault-to-Hearst passenger run is a break-even venture for CN with Transport Canada providing a multi-million dollar annual subsidy to operate the passenger service only. The Agawa Canyon tour train is different story that needs investment.
The tour coaches are provincially-owned with the locomotive power provided by CN. Thomson says the province isn’t charged any fees to Ontario to use their track.
He stopped short of calling the tour train a money-loser, but the slide in canyon ridership hasn’t helped.
“One of the big aspect with the tour train is the rolling stock and it’s not getting any younger,” says Thomson. “The (50-year-old) vintage of that equipment is very difficult to maintain and our big focus is the safety of it. The big discussion is on how we’re going to address that.”
Thomson says CN has been talking with the Ontario government and the City of Sault Ste. Marie and is receptive to new options, including a non-profit management board, if it keeps the train running and boosts tourism activity.
“We’re coming along and at the end of the day we’ll have some solution to enhance that service.”
Errington realizes his group needs to present a good business case showing the sustainability of new tourism development to justify further government investment in rail infrastructure.
“We think we can do that based on what is there now, and what could be there, if it’s properly supported.”
The City of Sault Ste. Marie hopes to revitalize the tour train by implementing a feasibility study calling for a $10.5 million investment in new rolling stock. Six million of that would come from the province.
On the web:
www.captrains.ca
