CP letter on rail crossings angers farmers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/04/2020 (2005 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CP Rail has found itself at the centre of a firestorm after angry farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan received letters telling them they would have to pay to upgrade private rail crossings or face having them shut down.

The crossings are often a farmer’s only way to get from one field to another.

Keystone Agricultural Producers has been working to resolve the issue for the past 10 days, KAP president Bill Campbell said Saturday.

KAP’s transportation committee held a virtual ZOOM meeting with CP Rail on Friday to discuss its plans.

Farmers and other landowners who have private crossings along the Bredenbury Subdivision rail line, which runs from Minnedosa to Bredenbury, Sask., received letters from CP that were sent out March 26. 

The letter reads in part:

“Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) has been reviewing their record files and databases for information pertaining to public and private rail grade crossings throughout Canada. This review has identified an incomplete number of records with regards to rail crossing user agreements between the private crossing owners and CP.

“Also in conjunction with the above review, a communications plan has been developed to advise the responsible parties of 8,877 rail crossings of Transport Canada’s new regulations and standards for all at-grade rail crossings. This letter is to inform you that the private rail crossing at the location described above has been identified as a rail crossing that is in use with no apparent agreement between yourself, the responsible crossing owner and CP.”

It later goes on to read: “Once the grade crossing compliance updates have been completed by CP Rail workforce, an invoice will be generated and sent you for payment instructions. Please note, if CP does not receive a response to this letter, CP may proceed with the closure of the noted subject crossing.”

Depending on the crossing, there are costs for everything from upgrades to the crossing surface to the road approach and sightlines.

“The intent of the letter is to find out who actually owns the property, and so then they would identify who they are dealing with and find out the status,” Campbell said.

But, he said, there is a “public relations shortfall” in the letter that indicates not only a financial impact on farmers, but also the prospect of having the crossings shut down if they don’t agree to pay what could amount to thousands of dollars per crossing.

“Our indication yesterday (Friday) was that they have no intention of terminating the crossings,” he said, “but the letter does not state that, so we fully told them ‘Then, your letter is not what your intentions are and it has really misled producers or people with the crossings.’”

During the meeting, CP indicated that those who are not comfortable signing and returning the paperwork should hold off for now, Campbell said.

“It seems to be a large area of miscommunication, but the problem is that the letter indicates they need to sign by April 30,” he said.

“At this point in time, it is our belief that CP is going to continue communicating and have a better sense of what their intentions are.”

Other subdivisions across the country will also be affected by CP’s crossing upgrade efforts. The first was in Alberta “and it was not well received,” Campbell said.

Federal legislation was passed in 2014 with regards to railway crossing safety and is to be implemented by November 2021.

“We’re asking for extensions and consultation and, you know, some type of common-sense approach to this whole issue,” Campbell said.

Mervin Starzyk, mayor of the RM of Yellowhead and Midwest Director for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, said he recently began receiving phone calls from ratepayers in his municipality who were alarmed by correspondence they had received from CP Rail.

“The copy of the letter that I received from one of our area farmers puts the costs at over $3,000 per crossing,” Starzyk said in an article published last week by the Four-Town Journal, a newspaper in Langenburg, Sask. “And he has four of them on his land, so that’s a pretty big hit.”

Farmers must also now pay CP Rail an annual crossing fee of $350, which can change with every new annual contract, and must also carry a minimum general liability insurance of $5 million along with $2 million in automobile liability insurance.

Starzyk and about 15 producers and landowners held a ZOOM virtual meeting two weeks ago with Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier, who told the group he would be in touch with Jim Carr, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special representative to the Prairies.

Binscarth-area farmer Blane Bauer said he was angered to receive a letter from CP that originally pegged the price tag for his one private rail crossing at more than $9,400. He and his wife, Karen, are now negotiating that figure downward with the railway.

“This has never happened to us before, and we’ve had this land for decades,” Bauer said. “They’ve (CP) been fixing crossings for decades. Something’s changed.”

He added, “This romance that we’ve had with our wonderful railway system, and opening up the country, it has some sour notes to it when you get things like this happening.”

The Canadian Transportation Agency is advising farmers with concerns about the upgrades to contact Rail Helpline at 1-877-850-7148.

The CTA is an independent administrative tribunal of the federal government that makes decisions relating to federally regulated modes of transportation.

Campbell said farmers can also contact CP directly at the number provided in the letters.

“CP is complying with Transport Canada’s Grade Crossing Regulation,” Andy Cummings, CP Rail’s media relations manager, said in an emailed statement to the Sun. “Questions regarding the crossing standards required by that regulation should be addressed to Transport Canada.”

A spokesman for Transport Canada referred the Sun’s request for comment to the Canadian Transportation Agency, which did not respond by late Saturday. 

» brobertson@brandonsun.com