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CN buys Alberta short-line
Edmonton—CN Railway Co. has bought Savage Alberta Railway Inc. (SAR), a 555-km short-line railway, which connects with CN at Swan Landing, Alta. The purchase was made from Savage Companies of Salt Lake City, Utah, for $25 million.
The deal will allow CN to bolster its freight services in the resource-rich area of northwestern Alberta, the company reported. Last year, the SAR transported 35,000 carloads of freight.
The railway will upgrade the short-line's track to improve operations and customer service, and to maximize its potential for transporting greater volumes of coal, grain and forest products, CN reported.
Revitalizing short-line railways is long overdue, said Cliff Mackay, president and CEO of the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) in Ottawa.
"Canadian short-lines now originate some 25 per cent of rail freight traffic in Canada, and feed business to and from long-haul, high volume Class 1 railways," he said.
He called a proposed initiative by the Quebec and federal governments and the private sector to reinvigorate short-line railways a good start. "We are optimistic the concept can be expanded to other provinces."
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