[Dion]

Crude-by-rail plan won't impact grain shipments, Notley says, but farmers still fearful

However, Ward Toma — general manager of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission — said farmers have little faith in assurances by the rail companies. Twice in the past five years, higher-than-expected crop volumes (combined with cold weather that forced the railways to run shorter trains) created a grain shipping backlog that left crops stranded in bins and elevators across the Prairies and led to billions of dollars in lost sales. At the same time, crude-by-rail exports have been growing, hitting an all-time high of 330,000 barrels per day in November.

Alberta Wheat Commission general manager Tom Steve said issues like track capacity and availability of locomotives are concerning.

“To just be able to wave a magic wand and say there will be no negative impact on grain movement, well, there’s a lot of factors that go into that,” Steve said. “It’s a very delicate balance to be able to maintain efficient rail service . . . and I’m not sure the government has completely thought this through.”

Hemmes said as long as the dominant routing of oil movement remains to the south, it is unlikely the province’s crude-by-rail strategy will interfere with farm shipments. However, if a significant portion of the new crude cars starts to travel west instead of south, that could become a problem.

“That will cause concern amongst not only grain shippers but with all market segments (potash, coal, sulphur) who are shipping into that corridor,” Hemmes said in an email. “The onus will be on the railways to ensure that their resources grow to accommodate any additional capacity requirements.”

https://calgaryherald.com/business/l...-still-fearful