CN Rail cancels service to Girouxville

Susan Thompson
for Express

CN has announced it is closing the rail line to Girouxville.

A little over a month ago the company sent notices to Merlot Agricultural Services and Wesport Agricultural Services offering the producer car companies a new contract on vacant land in Falher, with an original deadline of June 5.

“So far we’re still in negotiation period, but CN’s made it official that they intend on closing the line,” explains Alain Johnson of Merlot Agricultural Services.

Johnson says producers are stopping by Merlot’s offices asking if it’s true the line is closing.

“Because it’s happening so quick, nobody knows what’s going on.”

“They’ve extended deadline to July 3. What the proposal is, is to relocate us to the Falher area. The problem with that though is the space is not very adequate,” says Wesport Agricultural Services’ Denis Boisvert.

“We need a year-round spot, not just a bandaid fix.”

Girouxville is the largest volume producer car facility in Western Canada. Together, Merlot and Wesport load 1,200 rail cars per year with grain. That’s not even maximum capacity, as the companies could load more cars if CN chose to send them.

“You would think it would be enough to make them recognize this is a valuable operation,” Boisvert says.

Johnson worries that if it happens in Girouxville despite the amount of business there, it could happen in other towns too.

“If they close us down so easily, it’s kind of setting precedent for other locations.”

CN says that the track is too much money to maintain, but the local companies find that hard to believe.

“CN said it’s in such bad disrepair it’s not feasible to fix it. I’m sure it’s in disrepair if in 80 years they haven’t fixed it. They’re gonna spend some money in Falher to relocate us anyway. Just fix the track,” Boisvert says.

“It’s true the track is in bad shape. But it’s only six kilometres of track to fix for two or three million dollars, and for CN it should be peanuts,” Johnson agrees.

Meanwhile, CN’s decision means Wesport and Merlot will be forced to pay to move their businesses if they want to continue to operate.

“CN is offering zero or very little compensation to move our business. It does make everything harder because for us if we want to stay in business we have to put up capital to set up in Falher,” Johnson says.

Boisvert says that it’s uncertain what kind of compensation CN will offer to move his business, noting that Wesport has some verbal agreements that gravel will be put down at the Falher site, but nothing in writing yet.

“CN has made up their mind. The best we can hope for is to extract a little bit of extras and make our move, so financially it won’t hurt us quite as bad.”

However, as a large corporation, CN is in a much better negotiating position than Merlot and Wesport, making it tough to win concessions.

The closing of the rail line could be the beginning of the end for Girouxville as businesses indirectly supported by the rail line are left behind in the shift to the new Falher location.

“It’s going to affect some jobs too. It’s going to affect the town of Girouxville, and other businesses,” Boisvert says.

The move could also put more stress on Falher’s infrastructure due to increased traffic.

CN wants to end service to Girouxville as of August, but because of the crop season Merlot and Wesport wouldn’t actually be loading in Falher until fall.

Johnson says since CN has just made its application to close the line, there are still procedures with the transportation agency and other red tape for CN to deal with. Local companies have already been in touch with federal and provincial government to get more information.

They’ve learned that if producers are using the track, then provincial regulations say CN has to service it. But Johnson worries about loopholes.

“If nobody agrees and producers still want to load grain in Girouxville, they would still technically have to service [the track]. But if it’s in rough shape, who’s to say they’ll show up?”

Johnson hopes pressure on politicians at the provincial and federal level might help, but isn’t sure what else to do.

“We’re looking for help, but we’re not even sure who can help us and what the answers are.”

The fact that the announcement was made during the busy season for producers is also making it harder to rally support.

“In the end, CN is privately owned company and in right to do whatever they want. And they seem to be in it for the bottom dollar.”

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