Railroad abandonment and other changes in the southern Manitoba grain transportation system have lead to increased trucking of grain. Further losses of railroads will have negative effects on rural Manitoba communities, including increased road damage costs and reduction in farm income. Markets that are best served by rail (i.e. large volume shipments over long distances, such as grain directed to Mission Terminal at Thunder Bay) are no longer available to the rural shipper after abandonment. Instead, shippers are limited to local truck-served markets. Abandonment also results in a loss of economic development opportunities for rural communities. Firms that require railroads for inbound and/or outbound transport (i.e., shippers of food, lumber, paper, chemicals, farm equipment manufacture, and steel products) will not consider locating in a community that has no rail service.

It has been with these effects in mind that producers in South Central Manitoba have established The Boundary Trail Railway Company Inc. (BTRC), a shortline railway operating with the goal of forestalling further consequences of rail abandonment on the communities it represents. BTRC has been incorporated pursuant to the Manitoba Business Corporations Act with head office in Manitou. BTRC is the first producer owned shortline railway in Manitoba, following the example set by a number of shortlines in Saskatchewan in recent years.

In 2009 BTRC acquired 23 miles of intact railway (land, bridges, ballast, and track) formerly owned by Canadian Pacific, and running from Morden in the east to Binney Siding (approximately 2.5 miles northwest of Manitou) in the west. BTRC has also acquired approximately 55 miles of abandoned right of way (land, bridges and ballast) running from Binney siding in the east, through the Pembina Valley, and on to Holmfield (just east of Killarney) in the west.

BTRC began operations in June of 2009, and has been very pleased with the response from producers in the region – BTRC shipped it’s 500th car in July 2010 and anticipates even larger volumes for the 2010-2011 crop year. The completion of three privately owned and operated trackside storage and handling facilities, strategically located at Binney, Manitou, and Darlingford, will greatly enhance BTRC’s ability to serve producers by providing a fast and convenient alternative to auger loading.

While BTRC’s primary service will be the shipment of producer cars, the company is also pursuing both inbound and outbound shipments of other commodities.

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