A strange thing happened on Wednesday.
We didn’t have to worry about trains rolling through Estevan. No train whistles disrupted our peaceful evenings out on a patio. No trains blocked traffic at the most inopportune times, such as the mornings on the way to work, the noon hour, or the late afternoons on the way home.
If I didn’t understand the role that trains play in our economy, I might have said that this situation was blissful. I might think that this was a positive development.
But I can’t.
More than 3,000 train operators walked off the job on Tuesday night. Thankfully, they reached an agreement the following day, and were back at work on Thursday. The company also reached a tentative agreement with 360 signalling workers, keeping them from going on strike, that didn’t stop the train operators from going on strike for less than a day.
Trains play an essential service to our country. They transport freight and other goods to market.
Ask farmers about the importance of the railways when it comes to shipping their grains. They’ll tell you about the value of the railways. They’ll also tell you about the negative consequences when the trains aren’t shipping enough crops.
Many of them still have crops from last year’s harvest in their bins. A prolonged strike by CP Rail operators wasn’t going to help the situation. If farmers were concerned about getting their products from last year’s harvest to market before the strike, those concerns were temporarily heightened.
Then you have the energy sector. It’s been well-documented that oil companies have been forced to ship crude oil by train because they haven’t had the pipeline capacity. Companies haven’t been able to get a fair price for their oil because the oil is landlocked.
A lengthy CP Rail strike would have left one less option for getting the oil to market, and ultimately it’s the economy that would have suffered.
The mining sector is also concerned with the impact that a strike will have on its companies.
The strike wasn’t going to be a long one. There was too much on the line for this to be a protracted dispute. There’s too much on the line for CP Rail, too much money to be made by its operators, and so many sectors waiting for the strike to be settled.
The federal government says it wasn’t going to enact back to work legislation to get the trains moving again. It would have been interesting to see how long that stance would have lasted if the strike started to be measured as “Week 2,” instead of “Day 5.”
Perhaps it is time to start viewing the rail companies as an essential service, vital to the economy of the country. That essential service designation is of even greater importance when farmers are still trying to ship last year’s harvest.
Unfortunately, the train operators would have been punished for the company’s mistakes, since it’s not the operators’ fault that so many crops are waiting to be shipped.
You can also argue that train operators and other rail employees aren’t an essential service – they aren’t law enforcement personnel, firefighters, doctors or health-care workers – but right now, because of the grain backlog, they are needed.
It was nice that I didn’t have to worry about a train rumbling across the 13th Avenue crossing when I was trying to drive from the Mercury office to south Estevan. And I was glad I didn’t have to worry about talking over a train whistle while having a drink with friends on a patio.
I’m sure the people who live close to the tracks were happy they didn’t have to worry about the fumes associated with trains idling on the tracks.
And yes, now that the strike is over, I’ll curse every time I get stuck behind a train, particularly when I need to be at an appointment, or when my takeout lunch is cooling off in the front passenger seat.
My heart did not grow fond for trains in their absence.
But we do need trains to be moving freight. We need CP Rail and CN Rail. If anything, the grain backlogs we’ve seen in recent years are evidence that we need more rail companies.
So I’m glad this strike has been resolved. Just don’t expect me to clap the first time I get stopped by a train.
Now about those trains that stop and back up on the tracks at 7:30 a.m....
