What a way to run a railroad. Agriweek Mar 2

[bucket]

Here is the tin foil theory.


I suggest that the cwb sell the Lakers and buy all available hopper cars and form a holding company. Ritz has said the cars are not worth SFA anyway.

Provide cars for their own facilities and then let others bid to use the remainder.

Continue to lobby the government for open rights, buy a few locomotives and then see how this plays out.

Not sure I should have thrown it out there but WTF.

They could also use the cars to bring off shore fertilizer to the prairies.

So there is a start of an idea. Crazy hey?

[Hopperbin]

Buying hopper cars and maintaining them will pay off. In fact buy our share of the track and all of cn cpr. Should be bankable. So then when they want to charge oil car maintenance to farmers we say **** you. I mean there has been a lot ot rail traffic increase over the last 20 years. Seems to me grain farmers are paying for it and the extra maintenance.

[bucket]

Or maybe fna could get them as a holding company for loaded traffic both ways.

Would any intelligent railroader , read hunter, turn that business down.?

[bucket]

An fna like company. Lol.

[sawfly]

what is going on here?
the solution to the problem is not doing the same things over and over again.

Toms article clearly states what the RRs have been up to.(just in one area)

so what makes anyone think removing the freight cap is a good idea.

we gave the rrs everything they wanted before.. they took the money and ran. no investment( maybe in the US) in infrastructure.
no service.

so now give them unlimited ability to charge. they would not have to invest a dime or provide better service.
they could shrink their investment and pocket even more.

it is time to play hardball with the railroads.

sadly we have a govt. that is in the RRs pocket.

at least in the old days you had the threat of nationalizing the bastards.
mulroney took that away with the FTA.
now with little threat .

they are showing their monopolistic power. above the law

if i submitted a 100 million$ false expense claim to the govt.
i would be in jail.

it blows my mind then when Conservatives create the situation ,
then are surprised. how badly it turns out.

the class action participants are all conservatives.

How can you be surprised?

[TOM4CWB]

Bucket,

The CWB does not need to buy hopper cars.

"Feds back financing for CWB rail car upgrades"

The Canadian Wheat Board will use government-backed financing to extend the life of its fleet of hopper-bottom grain cars to 2030.

The CWB said Friday that the planned upgrades to 3,411 cars will extend the fleet’s service time by 16 years.

“Leasing hopper cars to the railways generates revenue for farmers,” CWB CEO Ian White said in a release Friday. “The upgrades we’re announcing today will pay for themselves over the extended life of all 3,411 cars, as well as generating additional revenue.”

Upgrades to the cars’ brakes and other equipment are “vital” to ensure the fleet can meet new standards the Association of American Railroads (AAR) plans to bring into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

The upgrades will also increase load capacity for wheat by about seven per cent, the CWB said."

BP, Why shouldn't the CWB and others own hoppercars... now that we have upgraded them and extended their life to 2030?

Why pay the railways a big profit on railcars that are actually making the CWB and AB SK MB and Gov. of Canada money... while keeping the cost of our freight down by at least $5/t?

What is your logic?

Since deregulation allows longer trains... with the advent of GPS control and remote control engines...

I do not buy the great Hunter's scheme that seeks to dump these perfectly good grain hopper transporters... at the expense of grain growers... to pad the pockets of Hunters great money train!

We use primarily trucks and trailers that are 20 years old. They are serviceable and work well.

Giving the rail cars to CN and CP would bring railway abusive basis costs of grain growers to a whole new much higher cost. WITH NO CHANGE IN CAPACITY or efficiency. We were loading the Hoppercars with 83mt... of our FLAX. There is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Cheers!

[MBgrower]

I hope the greed of agrium et al backfires in their face. Once the majority of farmers have enough on farm storage perhaps we can arrange for delievry from offshore sources and fill up any time of year. Good opportunity for FNA here.

[MBgrower]

Tom, whats the difference between railway cos and seed cos. Let them charge as much as the market can bare. Maybe cp and cn can patent grain movement, and get exclusive rights. They could even charge trucking companies and farmers fees on truck movement as they could claim exclusive transportation rights.

[TOM4CWB]

Sawfly,

What gives you the only corner on fighting injustice and unfair monopolies!

The CWB fed massive amounts of grain straight into the railways arms to pad their pockets!

The CWB prevented arbitrage of grain prices... into the US... by forcing buybacks that prevented movement south of grower grain. And pushed that grain into the railway monopoly.

Sawfly... YOU ARE WRONG. We want transparency and our grain markets to arbitrage with US and International markets... further we know somehow we must work together... to provide our grain buying customers with efficient and dependable transport of grain to a hungry world that requires timely and high quality grain straight from our farm gate if possible.

Your politics of smear and gouge is unfair.

Cheers

[TOM4CWB]

MBgrower,

You... personally... can own a variety. I own many varieties... in co-operation with the other farmers who co-operate with marketing through SECAN.

There is NO seed monopoly.

You can join Secan today and be an owner too... if you so choose... and find out just how big the profits are in the seed business. Secan plows the revenue back into R and D. For future better seeds for all of us to grow... basically at cost.

THERE IS NO MONOPOLY ON SEED. Pulses are the perfect example. CDC Saskatoon varieties have 1) NO ROYALTY
2) NO LEVY
3) Are funded by growers in western Canada Jointly;
4) there are many other individuals and small companies who grow, sell, market, and bid for the new and best genetics being released.

Who do you buy your cereal seed varieties from? Pulse seed? Flax seed? You can buy great new Canola seed from Secan growers and retailers who are primarily small operations with less than 10 people employed.

Please explain how the seed industry... even vaguely resembles rail transportation in Canada.

Your comparison is way off. Become a seed grower.... easily done with a little record keeping and hard work... and find out for your self!!!