CANADA: Three short lines in Saskatchewan have agreed to purchase Saskatchewan Grain Car Corp’s fleet of 898 hopper wagons from the provincial government for C$9·7m, an average of C$10 800 per wagon.
The government decided to leave the wagon business and began the process of selling the wagons in March, giving priority to the 13 commercial short lines in the province. Offers have now been accepted from Big Sky Rail Corp (663 wagons), Great Western Railway Ltd (150) and Great Sandhills Railway (85). The sales are expected to be finalised in the next two to three months.
‘With approximately 14 years’ of service life remaining the fleet still has value in the industry’, said David Marit, minister responsible for SGCC, on July 5. ‘Selling the cars to our short lines means they will continue to move commodities grown by Saskatchewan producers.’
