TISDALE — Leaders in Tisdale are hoping to increase rail traffic between the Port of Churchill and northeastern Saskatchewan.
On Sept. 27, Invest Tisdale announced a partnership with Arctic Gateway Group — which owns the Port of Churchill and the rail line to the port – that will promote “two-way rail traffic” and boost economic activity in the region.
“The Port of Churchill can offer Saskatchewan grain farmers and other businesses major cost savings with a shorter and more direct route to world export markets, as well as for imports of key products such as fertilizers,” said Chris Avery, chief executive officer of the Arctic Gateway Group.
“By reconnecting Tisdale to the Hudson Bay Railway, we can help grow the economy in Saskatchewan and offer greater supply chain optionality to lessen the impact of strikes and other forms of trade disruption that we’ve seen this year.”
Invest Tisdale is an economic development agency representing the town and the Rural Municipality of Tisdale.
The memorandum of understanding between Invest Tisdale and Arctic Gateway Group commits the two parties to:
- Attract new businesses and investments to the region.
- Work with the existing owner of the Tisdale Rail Subdivision to revitalize the rail line, which runs 100 kilometres between Crooked River, just east of Tisdale, and Hudson Bay, Sask.
Restoring the Tisdale Rail Subdivision would connect northeastern Saskatchewan to Churchill.
Canadian National Railway operates a line between Hudson Bay, Sask., and The Pas, Man., the starting point of the Arctic Gateway Group’s railway. It runs to the Port of Churchill, the only arctic seaport in Canada that is serviced by rail.
“We have been advocating for direct rail service to Churchill since 1995 and for the restoration of grain service since 2015,” said Ian Allan, reeve of the RM of Tisdale.
“The arctic port terminal is essential and is ours to lose.”
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