Coming on-line with new prospects: Ontario Northland looks to drive more regional freight onto rail.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Transportation

The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) is making a concerted marketing and diversification push to steer more freight off of the highway and onto rail.

The North Bay-headquartered Crown agency has been drawing attention in recent months by establishing multimodal yards in Timmins and Cochrane to cater to heavy industrial clients.

And in the past year, the northeastern Ontario rail carrier has picked up more than 15 new customers and is looking to grow on the agrifood-related side of the business.

Heavy loads or large bulk commodities are usually associated with using rail, but the ONTC is looking to convince large and smaller shippers to consider the economics of using the train to move good to distant markets.

"That's part of our strategy to be knocking on doors and trying to attract as much business as we can," said Ion Corley, Ontario Northland's director of rail transportation. "As they see more people using rail, using intermodal hubs, maybe it'll catch on and more customers will definitely have a good hard look at rail."

Working out of the Englehart office, Corley is a 16-year railway veteran who moved into the position in late November. He started with the ONTC as a brakeman and worked his way up to conductor, engineer and into management.

His division manages 700 miles of track spanning from North Bay to Moosonee and from Calstock (near Hearst) to Rouyn-Noranda in northwestern Quebec.

Corley finds there's plenty of new business to chase as well as service existing and smaller companies that were overlooked in the past, along with some potential off-line customers that could be accommodated by transload facilities.

"That's where these intermodal hubs come in," said Corley, "where we can allow these customers to access rail to off-load and load onto rail car after a short distance by truck."

The $1.4-million Cochrane terminal at the ONTC's yard there caters to the needs of the Detour Gold Mine north of town, but the rail carrier and town are working to draw in more forestry and agriculture-related freight.

In Timmins, rail is a key to the $5 million, 36-acre industrial park on Hallnor Road where anchor tenant Texas-based INEOS Calabrian has sited a liquid sulphur dioxide plant and more companies are expected to set up shop there.

If all goes well, Corley suggests more hubs could be strategically established across the northeast.

"There's been quite a bit of conversation right now with customers looking at what we could...