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The Orangeville Brampton Rail Access Group (OBRAG) has provided formal notice that it will terminate its agreement with the Orangeville Railway Development Corporation (ORDC) and GIO Railways Corporation Inc., effective December 31, 2021. Rail service will cease on that date, nine months in advance of the Sept. 2022 expiration of the current agreement. Under the tripartite agreement, dated June 27, 2018, the parties will continue to fulfill their obligations with respect to maintaining rail freight usage and maintenance of the rail line.

 “The Town appreciates the role our railway partners have played in keeping the service active for the past 21 years, servicing a need for several local industries,” said Mayor Sandy Brown. “The line has played a significant role in Orangeville’s history and now the future will bring a new use.”

The termination notice by the rail users’ group signals the impending end of an innovative public-private partnership. The Town purchased 55 km of CPR’s Owen Sound Subdivision from Mississauga to Orangeville following the Canadian Pacific Railway announcement, in 2000, that the rail line would be abandoned. The Town of Orangeville’s partnership with the OBRAG and a shortline operator allowed the Town to retain the rail infrastructure and provide rail service to the community, serving local industries two days per week.

“Regrettably, usage of the line, in terms of both active members and rail traffic in Brampton decreased significantly within the last two to three years, due to a number of economic factors,” said OBRAG chair Dan Braniff. “Some of those same factors frustrated efforts to attract new users and increase usage by existing members. In the last 21 years OBRAG invested over $13 million to maintain and upgrade the 100-year-old rail line to ensure safe operations. The required annual re-investment in the historic line is not sustainable at current freight levels. OBRAG remains proud of our unique partnership with Town of Orangeville, and all it has contributed to the stability and growth of our businesses and the local economy. Members remain committed to both safe rail service in the next 12 months and local operations in the long term. OBRAG members will find alternate means of maintaining supply chains.”

Orangeville Council, as the lone shareholder of ORDC, has directed the board to sell or lease rail line assets.

“The Town will be looking to recoup its investment in the rail line through the sale of some of the assets,” said Mayor Brown. “A potential conversion to a recreational trail may provide benefits in terms of recreation, active transportation and tourism, with the Town well positioned at the trailhead.”