Everything about this whole discussion is about 35
years old - nothing has changed. I was involved
with farm organizations and Govt groups through
most of the first 15 - 20 years dealing with grain
transportation going back to how the 'Crow Benefit'
should be paid out, to rail line abandonment and
consolidation, and to the end of the Crow Rate and
implementation of the WGTA. Two ground rules
overlooked - 1. the Crow never impeded tertiary
processing and investment because grain and grain
processed products paid the same freight rate. 2.
The railways will never invest in 'surge capacity'
because from their point of view, it makes no sense.
During discussions on ending the Crow it became
apparent what CP and CN wanted and to their credit
they were always up front and honest about what
they wanted to see - full commercial rates, and
their proposal was a bidding system where a certain
number of cars would be allocated per week and
then the players would bid for those cars to be
spotted at their locations. The highest bid wins the
cars. The CWB and CGC stopped that in its tracks,
no pun intended. Now, that's the only outcome I can
see, and this $3 million dollar 5 year study is
nothing but the means by which you will be sold on
this as the only solution. So glad I'm out of the
squirrel cage. Good luck!
years old - nothing has changed. I was involved
with farm organizations and Govt groups through
most of the first 15 - 20 years dealing with grain
transportation going back to how the 'Crow Benefit'
should be paid out, to rail line abandonment and
consolidation, and to the end of the Crow Rate and
implementation of the WGTA. Two ground rules
overlooked - 1. the Crow never impeded tertiary
processing and investment because grain and grain
processed products paid the same freight rate. 2.
The railways will never invest in 'surge capacity'
because from their point of view, it makes no sense.
During discussions on ending the Crow it became
apparent what CP and CN wanted and to their credit
they were always up front and honest about what
they wanted to see - full commercial rates, and
their proposal was a bidding system where a certain
number of cars would be allocated per week and
then the players would bid for those cars to be
spotted at their locations. The highest bid wins the
cars. The CWB and CGC stopped that in its tracks,
no pun intended. Now, that's the only outcome I can
see, and this $3 million dollar 5 year study is
nothing but the means by which you will be sold on
this as the only solution. So glad I'm out of the
squirrel cage. Good luck!
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