It looks like a lot of the elevators in Alberta are starting to get cars more often , we saw this a few years ago when the rail ways started to get pressure from government. They hammer the cars into the closest elevators to port to get there numbers back up to show that there moving grain to everyone.
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what is the bottleneck in rail transport
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Does potash, oil, container and general freight feel the same pinch?
If it doesn't, maybe it needs to. Remember the "radical" solution I proposed.
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I would say 2 simple things for the bottle neckOriginally posted by sawfly1 View PostI can make guesses what the problem is but does anyone have insight?
bill c49 still sounds like more doing nothing.
why don't we look at what is really possible to do.
a lot of things like joint running rights are not going to happen .
the cn cp monopoly is here to stay .
at least as long as NAFTA is in place. you can not touch them .
so you can be sure NAFTA will be around a long time .
the grain co.s are not our friends in this .
the bottlenecks or just lack of effort from the railways .
have made grain .co.s business super profitable.
as evidenced by everyone and their dog building terminals these days .
with the grain. co.s and the railways having the govt.s ear
the mess will continue .
grian co.s will not want a fix , because then they would have to compete
with the other players. and cut margins
the rail roads do not want a fix , because the worse service they give .
the more raises they get. the way it has always been .
when a full compensatory rate plus profit , plus Return on investment is not enough .
what the hell is .
they have a real incentive not to preform .
there has to be some agency to make sure all products have access to transportation
is a reasonable time.
a national policy
why is there not one ?
how basic and simple is that.
some one should be in charge .
but we have 50 years of nothing.
absolutely nothing
oil potash grain lumber. how can their real value be determined , if they can not get to their destination in a reasonable time
the first and simplest is oil in pipelines.
that is the easy one.
if the rail lines to the coast are the problem.
then how about for every $ over what they spend now , on system improvements .
govt. or shippers would match. or help them out .
it would have to be audited
grain shippers would not pay to improve a total coal line . etc. etc.
and vice versa
kinda make the railroads our friends , not the middle man grain .cos .
market forces will bring grain. co.s in line .when anybody has access to shipping .
they might have to work instead of steal for a change .
we are screwed anyway, so if we have to pay more, for improvements . at least the $ are not buying a US railroad
for the shareholders.
same with locomotives, etc. if the railroads would have and maintain enough here to do the job .
and we would help them out .
if not , then give the money back
1. The Rocky Mountains
2. Oil on rail because of the lack of sufficient pipelines .
Most other rail inefficiency’s are because of those two things.
What exaggerates the issue was the gutting of both rail lines by Harrison for shareholder profits .
No quick fix to any of it. Also additional rail through the Rocky’s would be astronomicaly expensive
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The endusers of those products have large warehouses and it can move smoothly whenever....Originally posted by farmaholic View PostDoes potash, oil, container and general freight feel the same pinch?
If it doesn't, maybe it needs to. Remember the "radical" solution I proposed.
BTW the potash companies have large warehouses to hold supply as well.
Graincos don't want to invest in warehouses for easier movement ....they downloaded that to the peasants thinking the grain movement will be better....doesnt help the graincos to have the grain on the farm...
It will be a tough lesson to learn.
G3s footprint will be an interesting study of a grainco in western canada over the next 5 years.
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As expensive as the lost opportunity to the economy of Canada?Originally posted by furrowtickler View PostI would say 2 simple things for the bottle neck
1. The Rocky Mountains
2. Oil on rail because of the lack of sufficient pipelines .
Most other rail inefficiency’s are because of those two things.
What exaggerates the issue was the gutting of both rail lines by Harrison for shareholder profits .
No quick fix to any of it. Also additional rail through the Rocky’s would be astronomicaly expensive
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U want a true fix.... send the grain south and get it on American rails.. if they have the capacity at ports to load more ships it would be welcomed business.. and probably cost us the farmers less.
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And now you have pinpointed the major problem......Originally posted by furrowtickler View PostNo , I agree Bucket , but no politician seems to understand.
They can ask the same question 20 times in the house about the Atwall affair but won't ask about agriculture ...that is a major economic driver in the country.
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I am just a dumb plowboy and I see a simple solution but it will never happen. We have established that the weather, the mountains, more oil by rail and railroad complacency our the factors affecting grain shipments. We also know that most of the countries that are competitors have the storage capacity to move their production into export position at harvest time, whether that is to port or short and medium term storage. We as producers shot ourselves in the foot when we took it upon ourselves to build massive amounts of on farm storage which should have been done by the grain companies. Now before you guys and girls bite my head off I fully understand we were forced to do that but all that has done is offloaded any responsibility of the grain companies. We know in this country that new pipeline construction is dead, we know that the environmentalists will never allow the twinning of any rails through the mountains and we know the railroads would never invest that kind of money anyways. Why do we not have inland ports on the east side of the Rockies, joint ventures between government, grain companies and the railroads? This would give allow producers to quit spending money on farm storage, would increase movement in the fall months when weather is better increasing cash flow, frees up elevator space, allows grain to be in an export position and gives the railways a shorter haul during the winter months. My thoughts are that the grain companies are spending their money in the wrong spot, we do not need more terminal space on the prairies we need port space, it doesn't matter how many terminals are on the prairies if they are all full. This idea would be an easier sell to the environmentalists would be a way of creating infrastructure projects on the prairies could use a P3 model where both private and government money is involved. It would even reduce some pressure on the railroads as producers that are close enough could deliver directly to these ports bypassing the rail system. This seems like a simple and reasonable solution to me, tell me what I am missing here that doesn't make this a viable solution.
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Too much demand on railways is the main issue, but even if we build every pipeline there will still be issues.
Heavy snow takes 2+ days to clear rail lines.
Landslides more.
Maintenance, inspections, etc.
Never gonna be a perfect system by any means. But definitely has room for improvement.
Lots of terminal expansion planned or completed mostly focused on storage and quicker car unload systems. G3 and AGT for example. Should help.
The thought graincos don't need to ship grain to make money is a bit weird. If they don't want to bid on commodities they just won't or drop there bids. Alot cheaper than backing up the entire system and paying some pretty hefty demurrage costs at the terminal.
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