2009

10 December 2009 Canadian Pacific Railway Abandons More Than a Rail Line Gimli Manitoba - Low expectations should not be a reason for despair. It may be that Premier Greg Selinger has a plan to deal with the Canadian Pacific Railway's plan to abandon the historic rail line from Selkirk to Gimli.   Certainly Selinger's predecessor, Gary Doer, understood the political, cultural, and historical importance of the line. But Selinger is not the premier his predecessor was, nor will he, Selinger, be remembered much in these parts if he cannot, as Doer did, save the line.   Sure Doer's fix was short-term, just five years, but enough, as it turned out in the 2004 provincial election, to save his butt and get an NDPer elected in the Tory stronghold of Gimli, a riding that takes in what's left of a rail line that once ran from Winnipeg to Riverton.   The Gimli-Riverton portion of the line has long been abandoned.   As part of a federally-legislated three-year process, CPR is slating the Selkirk-Gimli portion, called the Winnipeg Beach Subdivision, for abandonment. It doesn't make any money, the money-making international CPR says.   (Canadian Pacific Railway Limited announced 27 Oct 2009 a third-quarter net income of $195 million, an increase of 14 percent from $171 million in 2008.)   What Premier Selinger and Gimli MLA Peter Bjornson have to tell us is just what it will mean to the East Interlake if CPR fulfills its promise of leaving the sandbox.   Let's remember, that the Winnipeg-Riverton line, when it was intact, was CPR's most profitable per mile. It made millions upon millions, as people flocked to summer resorts all along the line. The automobile, as it's now so coyly called, changed that. As well, new destinations, once again because of the ubiquity of the car, gave tourists and cottagers more options.   The default position of many may well be that this represents the end of an era. There's little we can do. Short of a knight in shining armour arriving to rescuing the troubled line, there's not much that can be done, it may be said.   However, the rail line could be updated for passenger service. It could be turned westward slightly, veering past Selkirk where train commuter service would probably not be a starter, on its way to Winnipeg.   Yes, a commuter passenger service.   It's not as far-fetched as it may seem at first blush.   Jim Mosher.

OKthePK Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada - http://www.OKthePK.ca/