Arctic Gateway Group
Arctic Gateway Group is a public private partnership formed to own and operate the Hudson's Bay Railway, from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba.[1][2][3]
The consortium's partnership agreement has a term of 99 years.[4] CBC News reports that ownership of the partnership is split fifty-fifty between several private companies, and several local First nations.[5] It reported that the two major private partners are "Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings and Saskatchewan-based grains company AGT Food and Ingredients."
Goals
Murad Al-Katib, the CEO of AGT, said one possible revenue source could be foreign eco-tourists.[4]
While grain had traditionally been the major cargo shipped from the port Al-Katib said the partnership would look into shipping potash, ore and petroleum products.[4]
According to Maclean's magazine, when first constructed, it was imagined that petroleum products, from Prairie deposits, could be shipped, by rail, to then be shipped by tanker to foreign markets.[6] This idea has been abandoned.
Operations
On November 19, 2018, Al-Katib announced that freight service had begun, and that passenger service is expected to begin by the end of November.[5]
On September 1, 2021, researchers described their efforts to predict floods of the right of way that have caused derailments in the past..[7]
References
- ↑ "Railway to Churchill, Man., sold — repairs to begin 'immediately'". CBC News. 2018-08-31. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20210903160036/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-raiway-sale-omnitrax-1.4807450. Retrieved 2018-11-01. "The railway and the Port of Churchill have been purchased from Denver-based Omnitrax Inc. by Arctic Gateway Group Limited Partnership, a private-public partnership that includes Missinippi Rail Limited Partnership, Fairfax Financial Holdings and AGT Limited Partnership."
- ↑ Sean Kavanagh (2018-09-14). "Feds to spend $117M for Churchill railway sale, repairs". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20210903160147/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-rail-repairs-sale-1.4823974. Retrieved 2018-11-01. "Of the announced funding, $74 million will be spent over the next three years to help cover the costs of buying and repairing the line and the port. The remaining $43 million will be spent over 10 years to pay for operations and to enhance the commercial viability of the line, the port and the tank farm."
- ↑ Cameron MacIntosh (2018-11-01). "Churchill residents rejoice as rail service gets back on track". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20210903160130/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-rail-service-returns-november-1.4887333. Retrieved 2018-11-01. "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at the Port of Churchill this morning, as hundreds of residents gathered for a street party to celebrate the arrival last night of the first train into Churchill in 18 months."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Erin Brohman (2018-09-05). "Warm reception in Churchill for new owners of port and railway". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20210903160044/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-port-rail-owners-hudson-bay-line-1.4810683. Retrieved 2018-11-01. "Phase two applies to their long-term plans for the port and rail line, he said, as the consortium, with 50 per cent ownership by AGT and Fairfax, and 50 per cent by the communities, signed a 99-year management agreement."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Aidan Geary (2018-11-19). "Freight services back between Churchill and Thompson, Man.". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20210903160042/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-rail-freight-services-1.4912042. Retrieved 2018-11-20. "Arctic Gateway Group is a coalition of local rail-line communities, area First Nations, Saskatchewan grain and pulse trader AGT Food and Ingredients and Toronto holding company Fairfax Financial."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ken Hansen (2018-11-13). "When Churchill needed Ottawa, the town was ignored. Now, Ottawa needs Churchill". Maclean's magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20201201193453/https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/when-churchill-needed-ottawa-the-town-was-ignored-now-ottawa-needs-churchill/. Retrieved 2018-11-20. "The new, locally owned entity Arctic Gateway Group Limited Partnership that now owns it—which includes Manitoba communities, First Nations, Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings and Saskatchewan-based grain company AGT Food and Ingredient, and has received $117 million in federal funding—has mooted the idea too. But the Manitoba government rejected it when OmniTRAX put it forward in 2013, citing the fears of a repeat of the disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que.; according to the Transportation Safety Board, of the 63 accidents on the Hudson Bay rail line between 2003 and 2012, all but 10 were derailments."
- ↑ David C. Lester (2021-09-01). "Researchers creating early flood warning system along Hudson Bay Railway". Railway, Tracks & Structures. Archived from the original on 2021-09-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20210901201943/https://www.rtands.com/safety-training/researchers-creating-early-flood-warning-system-along-hudson-bay-railway/. Retrieved 2018-11-20. "Over the next two years, they will use satellite data for monitoring hydrological outflow to develop an early warning system. At the same time, they are using high-resolution drone imagery to map the impact of hydrological events on the railway."
- ↑ Mike Albanese (2018-10-07). "Possible delays on railway to Churchill". Winnipeg City News. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20181122131843/https://winnipeg.citynews.ca/video/2018/10/07/possible-delays-on-railway-to-churchill/. Retrieved 2018-11-20. "Spirits are still high in Churchill even after the Arctic Gateway Group admitted railway repairs might not get done before winter after all."
