Letter to the Editor - March 20

Railway Lines Through Renfrew County Should be Saved

I am writing to express my concern at the planned closure of the two railway lines through Renfrew County: the CN line from Ottawa via Pontiac Quebec to Pembroke and the CP line from Smith's Falls to North Bay and beyond.

While these lines are not being used at the moment, I am certain that as the economy picks up, they will be needed in the future. Instead of closing the lines, they should be 'banked', ie, left to rust until needed. Banking is standard practise in the US, and should be happening in this country, in fact Burlington Northern(BN) did this with one of their main lines in the US. After being left untouched for 20 years, BN found that they had a need for it so they rebuilt it.

Many railway lines are being closed because of the recession, and trucks are moving more of our goods, which on the surface appears to be more efficient. Both these situations will not last since the economy is picking up (slowly), and the price of oil is going up. It could be as high as $200/barrel in 3 years. 77% of US drivers own vehicles, in China this is less than 1%, but this figure is growing fast. Such a rise in oil prices will make truck transport a lot less attractive.

In a recent survey, half the industries asked said they would be interested in rail as an option, but had never been approached by CP for their business.

At one time there was a passenger rail service between Sudbury and Ottawa. I would love to see that restored.

If the railway companies are not interested in keeping these lines, then governments should purchase them and bank them Governments should fund the existing "live" railway that Transport Pontiac Renfrew is negotiating with CN. The Marke study and business plan are very positive. All that is missing is funding from senior levels of government, for purchase and start-up, from senior levels of government.

Governments need to act quickly if these railway lines are to be saved in a manner that is useful to our economy.

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