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Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure

PMO taking a look at Ring of Fire plan to rival Ontario’s: Cree chief – by James Munson (iPolitics.ca – January 24, 2015)

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

The Prime Minister’s Office has expressed interest in a First Nations-led plan to build a new seaport and railroad across northern Ontario to the Ring of Fire mineral deposit, an election-year effort that would rival Premier Kathleen Wynne’s own designs for the region.

The Mushkegowuk Council and TGR Rail Company are preparing a joint purchase of the Ontario Northland rail line between North Bay and Moosonee, pending the First Nation group’s approval from its council of chiefs this week, said Mushkegowuk Council grand chief Lawrence Martin Friday.

The plan would open the door to a east-to-west rail, transmission line and telecommunications corridor to the Ring of Fire, a 5,120 square kilometre crescent of ore that could bring a $9.4 billion increase to Ontario’s GDP over the next decade if developed.

After more than a year of what Wynne has characterized as foot dragging from Ottawa on a federal-provincial plan, the PMO and Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford’s office called TRG Rail in the past three weeks expressing interest in the new plan, Martin told iPolitics.

“We’ve even had a call from the PMO office asking for information for our project,” said Martin, adding it was TGR Rail, a Toronto-based rail company, that took the call. “It’s gaining momentum, so it looks like it’s going ahead.” TGR Rail would not comment on the corridor plan, saying only that the firm would issue a news release Monday.

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Ontario Government shuts down ONR sale talk – by Jeff Turl (Bay Today – January 26, 2015

http://www.baytoday.ca/

The Ontario government and ONTC management have acted quickly to quash any talk that the ONR could be sold to a James Bay native council.

Mike Feenstra, Director of Communications for Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines told BayToday in an email that, “On April 4, 2014, after extensive work with the Minister’s Advisory Committee on the ONTC, Minister Gravelle announced the government would keep the ONTC in public hands and operations would be transformed. As a result, 4 of the 5 lines of business (Onterra has been sold to Bell Aliant) are being kept in public hands under the management of the ONTC. This statement from Minister Gravelle reaffirms this decision:

“Our government has been clear – ONTC’s motor coach, Polar Bear Express, rail freight, and refurbishment services will remain in public hands. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure sustainable employment, continued economic growth, and a strong transportation network in northeastern Ontario through transformation of the ONTC.”

And Interim CEO of Ontario Northland Corina Moore confirmed it to BayToday. “The province has been clear that Ontario Northland’s rail operations will remain in public hands. Transformation is underway at Ontario Northland. We are focused on reshaping the organization in order to be sustainable so we can continue to provide vital transportation services to northeastern Ontario.”

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TGR Rail PRESS RELEASE: LANDMARK BREAKTHROUGH FOR THE RING OF FIRE

Monday January 26th, 2015

TGR Rail Canada is proud to confirm that it is moving forward with a proposal to negotiate a deal to finance build and operate a 410 km railway to the Ring of Fire from Moosonee on James Bay with the Mushkegowuk Council. The visionary Mushkegowuk Council, on behalf of their people, are reviewing the concept of a First Nations owned infrastructure corridor through their territory that will include high power hydro lines, an access road and a railway. The Mushkegowuk, with the support of TGR Rail Canada, have also identified the potential future location for a James Bay deep sea port to service the Ring of Fire mining companies.

“These guys are different,” said Grand Chief Martin. “They don’t want to talk about treaties. They said they need land to lease from us, all they need to know is how much we want for it.” TGR Rail confirms that the Mushkegowuk will have a significant ownership position in the new Ring of Fire Railway. The James Bay area First Nation will also benefit when the construction service road built for the new railway is converted for use as a First Nations community access road benefitting the entire region.

Grand Chief Martin said his personal opinion is that the proposal is a good one because there is already an idea on the table to extend a high voltage hydro transmission line from the James Bay coast on a new right of way to the Ring Of Fire. He said it would only make sense to create a right of way to serve hydro and rail service at the same time. The most important factor is that the Mushkegowuk people will have ownership of the project.

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Stakeholders send [Algoma Central] rail funding proposal to Transport Canada – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 2015)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.  

Stakeholders vying to retain the CN-owned Algoma Central Railway passenger service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst have sent a funding proposal to the federal government.

The stakeholders say the request would cost Transport Canada considerably less than its financial support of the service in recent years, and includes information from a third-party rail company that’s expected to take over the service in 2015.

“With a relatively limited investment, the federal government can keep this critical transportation line in operation,” said Joe Fratesi, chair of the ACR Passenger Service Stakeholders Working Group and CAO for the City of Sault Ste. Marie. “We look forward to hearing back from the Government of Canada in the coming weeks.”

Following a request for proposal process that saw three qualified rail companies bid to assume operation of the Algoma Central Railway passenger service, one bidder has been selected for final negotiations.

That followed a thorough analysis of the firm’s bid, which detailed plans to increase revenue and ridership by diversifying the types of tourism products and services available to passengers, as well as making the service self-sustaining within five years.

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Possible rail solution in Ring of Fire – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – January 23, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The Mushkegowuk Tribal Council is considering the idea of teaming up with a Southern Ontario rail company to purchase the rail division of Ontario Northland with an eye to expanding rail service on the James Bay Coast and eventually to the Ring Of Fire mining development.

Mushkegowuk grand chief Lawrence Martin revealed Thursday afternoon that his organization has been approached by TGR Rail Canada Ltd, which is one of the companies bidding on the divestment of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

“They gave us a proposal to consider in which we would look at an MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) to discuss the possibility of a partnership with them,” said grand chief Martin, speaking to the Aboriginal Energy Symposium.

He said TGR Rail Canada, based out of Toronto, is one of the companies approved by the province as eligible to purchase Ontario Northland rail operations provided they do it in a partnership with a Northern Ontario organization such as Mushkegowuk.

“At this point I can say it is a proposal. We are looking at it.

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Restructuring Ontario Northland prepares to pick up steam – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 7, 2015)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

A new “transformational” era has arrived at a reformed Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) and its interim CEO is urging everyone to get on board.

Senior management at the North Bay-headquartered Crown agency are hitting the road for a series of town hall discussions in communities across northeastern Ontario to lay out their plans to transition into a new chapter.

“I’m hoping it’s sort of a Northern Ontario family initiative,” said chief operating officer Corina Moore, who’s temporarily occupying the seat while a search is underway for a permanent chief executive.

Paul Goulet resigned as president and CEO in October after more than four years at the helm. The ONTC’s telecommunications arm, Ontera, was sold to Bell Aliant during the Ontario government’s aborted divestment attempt, but the rest of the rail, motor coach and repair shop business units remain intact.

Nevertheless, some major changes are in store as Ontario Northland’s restructuring plan is rolled out over the next three years to usher in a more sustainable version of the corporation; one that’s more efficient and less reliant on taxpayer subsidies.

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Third rail line to Quebec’s north a necessity, says Schefferville – by Marika Wheeler (CBC News Montreal – December 11, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal

The head of Schefferville says experts have it wrong: there can’t be a Plan Nord without another train line

The administrator of Schefferville says despite what experts say, he believes the Plan Nord — Quebec’s plan for the development of the north — depends on having a third train line to get iron to market.

“If the government wants to have some sort of Plan Nord in the Fosse du Labrador, they have to have a third way to ship the iron to Sept-Îles,” said Paul Joncas.

Transportation represents about 40 percent of production costs for iron mines working in the Labrador Trough along the Quebec-Labrador border. Rail is the only way to transport the millions of tons of iron produced each year.

​There are currently two tracks that run north. One is owned by ArcelorMittal, and runs from Port-Cartier to Fermont. It only carries ore extracted by ArcelorMittal.

The second track runs from Sept-Îles to Schefferville and is owned, in part, by the Iron Ore Company (IOC). That means other companies working in the Schefferville area must pay a competitor to carry their product.

Experts warn waste of money

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Finland exploring rail connections to Arctic Sea – by by Juhani Niinisto (Shanghai Daily – November 27, 2014)

http://shanghaidaily.com/

HELSINKI, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — Finland has one third of its territory inside the Arctic Circle, but is the only Nordic country without any seaport by the Arctic Sea.

Opportunities of seafaring courses have triggered long-term consideration of how to establish rail connections to the Arctic Sea further north beyond the Norwegian border.

The main idea so far has been to build tracks from the western part of Finnish Lapland via Sweden and Norway.

A connection via Russia remains a less likely option, but it became slightly more feasible on Tuesday when the Finnish government chose to support railroad links to a potential mine in Eastern Lapland near the Russian border.

So far, tracks towards the Artic Sea only reach the Western Lapland mining town of Kolari. Development of rail connections in Eastern Lapland moved forward on Tuesday as the government preferred rail links over road transit in arranging services for a mining project at Sokli in the east.

The owners of the potential phosphate mines, Norway’s Yara, has set public transport input as a condition for the project. The investment would extend Finnish heavy duty rail tracks to just 60 km away from the Russian border.

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“The clock is ticking” on Algoma Central Railway – by Greg Gormick (Northern Ontario Business – November 2014)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

A takeover of the Algoma Central Railway (ACR) passenger service from CN by a third-party operator is in the works and, at first blush, this seems to hold the promise of reviving the Agawa Canyon tour train and the full Sault Ste. Marie-Hearst service.

CN’s business is moving large volumes of freight over long distances, not hauling passengers. A new operator can bring expertise and enthusiasm that’s been understandably lacking under CN. Its involvement is only a consequence of its 2001 purchase of the ACR as part of a larger package of railway lines from Wisconsin Central (WC), which acquired the ACR in 1995. CN really didn’t want the ACR or its federally-subsidized passenger service, but was obliged to take both because it wanted other strategically-valuable WC lines.

But in the cheering about the potential improvements that could come with a new passenger service provider operating on CN infrastructure, there are two issues not being fully considered.

The most obvious one is the subsidy, which has been provided by the federal government since 1968 under a program to support passenger trains vital to regions lacking adequate air and road access.

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Lac-Mégantic report skims surface of deep problems – by Greg Gormick (Toronto Star – August 22, 2014)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Greg Gormick is a Toronto transportation writer and policy adviser. His clients have included CN, CP, VIA and numerous elected officials and government transportation agencies.

The report of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on the Lac-Mégantic disaster blames “systemic problems” for the fourth deadliest accident in nearly two centuries of Canadian railroading. Those problems are more deeply rooted than even the TSB indicates.

As an arm’s-length agency, the TSB isn’t controlled by politicians and doesn’t bow to any master except public safety. But it does not play a public policy role. That’s in the hands of politicians, backed by their advisers and ministry staff.

It is at that level where blame must be placed. The Lac-Mégantic tragedy can be traced to decades of policy and investment failures resulting from unbridled faith in deregulation and competition as the guiding rules of rail legislation and funding. The biggest culprit is the 1985 transportation act, which the Mulroney government billed as “legislative change which will free Canada’s transportation system from the burden of excessive economic regulation.”

That it did. But it went further by eliminating most of the public interest tests contained in the previous acts, which applied both commercial and public policy requirements to all federally regulated transportation. The 1985 act was based on the profitability test for the regulation of our system, particularly rail.

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Mine Tales: Mining railroads overcame obstacles – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – August 3, 2014)

http://tucson.com/

William Ascarza is an archivist, historian and author. Email him at mining@tucson.com

Created in 1910, the Tucson-Nogales Railroad supplemented a line established 20 years prior between Nogales and Guaymas.

At an elevation of 4,613 feet, Dragoon Railroad station — the highest point on the Southern Pacific line between Los Angeles and El Paso — also served as the junction of the Johnson, Dragoon and Northern Railroad.

The railroad supplanted the freight wagon and stagecoach as did its method of power generation. Steam, electric and diesel locomotives were employed in Arizona history for mining, passenger transport and irrigation projects for agriculture.

Standard, narrow and baby railroad gauges used at the mines in Arizona were based upon the width of the track: standard gauge (56ƒ inches), narrow gauge (less than 56ƒ inches) and baby gauge (20 inches). Standard-gauge railroads in Arizona became dominant in the early 20th century, though many narrow gauge railroads continued to service the mines.

Challenges facing railroads included rockslides, floods, Indian raids and steep gradients. In 1910, the Arizona Eastern Railroad connected the eight miles between Winkelman and Christmas.

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Mine Tales: Railroads spurred mining’s growth in Arizona – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – July 27, 2014)

http://tucson.com/

William Ascarza is an archivist, historian and author. Email him at mining@tucson.com

Railroad transportation proved indispensable to the development of the mining industry in Arizona, connecting it to lucrative markets in California and the Eastern states.

The arrival of the “iron horse” established towns and injected capital to advance mining interests through delivery of equipment and supplies while providing ease of ore transport to distant markets for refinement and profit.

Early talk of involving rail transportation in Arizona dates to shortly after the end of the Mexican-American War, when Congress financed surveys with the intention of establishing transcontinental railroad lines through what was then part of New Mexico Territory. Euphoric Manifest Destiny aspirations of the late 1850s included a railroad connecting mining operations around Tubac to Guaymas, Mexico.

This connection was deemed essential by William Wrightson, superintendent of the Santa Rita Mining Co.

Attempts to annex Sonora, Mexico, including a final expedition led by Henry Crabb in 1857, resulted in failure, as was the proposed rail line at the time. The Civil War, coupled with lack of financing, hindered rail in Arizona for the next two decades.

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Lax safety measures to blame for Lac-Mégantic tragedy, safety board says – by Allan Woods (Toronto Star – August 20, 2014)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada identified 18 distinct factors that led to the Lac-Mégantic rail crash, including mechanical problems, unsuitable tank cars carrying crude oil, the cost-conscious rail firm and human error.

MONTREAL — Blame a rule-breaking rail company, blame ineffective train inspectors, but don’t blame the federal government for the deadly Lac-Mégantic train disaster, says Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt.

In the wake of a scathing report into the July 2013 derailment that killed 47 people in the Quebec town, Raitt pointed the finger at three employees of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway now charged with criminal negligence, and referred questions about lapses leading to the accident to bureaucrats under her command.

“We need to remember that in terms of safety, the government puts the rules in place. The companies are expected to follow the rules,” Raitt said in Ottawa. “The company did not follow the rules and that’s a very important fact here too.”

The Transportation Safety Board’s definitive account of the incident said the crash was caused by a marginal rail company that put profits before safety during more than a decade in business.

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Australian state approves $2 bln rail line for Adani coal project – by Sonali Paul (Reuters India – August 14, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE – Aug 14 (Reuters) – India’s Adani Mining has won state approval to build a rail line for its $15 billion Carmichael coal project in Australia, it said on Thursday, bringing it a step closer towards making a final decision on whether to go ahead with the massive scheme.

The state of Queensland approved the A$2.2 billion ($2 billion) North Galilee Basin Rail project, a 300 kilometre (186 mile) railway to connect the Carmichael mine and potentially other mines in the untapped Galilee Basin to the east coast port of Abbot Point.

Despite analysts’ views that Adani’s project would be unprofitable at current coal prices, the company said it remained committed to pushing ahead with it to supply coal to power stations in India.

“Adani looks forward to continuing to work with our project partners and all levels of government to see this through,” Adani Mining, the Australian arm of Adani Enterprises, said in a statement.

Adani recently signed an agreement with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co Ltd to build the rail line. Costs and other details of the contract are due to be set by the end of this year.

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What is the role of rail in Ontario? – by Greg Gormick

http://northernpolicy.wordpress.com/

Greg Gormick is a Toronto transportation writer and policy adviser. His clients have included CN, CP, VIA and numerous elected officials and government transportation agencies. This column was originally posted on the Northern Policy Institue website.

That question was at the heart of the work of a provincial task force appointed in 1980 by Premier Bill Davis and headed by MPP Margaret Scrivener. The group’s appointment was a response to many then-current issues and trends in railroading. VIA Rail Canada had just been launched by the federal government to take over the crumbling passenger services operated by CP and CN.

The energy crises of 1973-1974 and 1979 had caused many people to recognize the fuel efficiency of rail compared with cars, trucks and planes. The derailment and explosion of a CP freight train carrying dangerous commodities in Mississauga in November 1979 raised serious questions about rail safety and investment.

Thirty-three years after the Scrivener task force delivered its final report, The Future Role of Rail, it’s appropriate to again ask many of the same questions. The world has changed greatly in ensuing years and so has railroading, particularly in northern Ontario. But many of the issues explored by the task force are hauntingly familiar – and still unresolved.

Today, the symptoms indicating our once proud and efficient rail system is stressed include:

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