By paNOW

CN Rail cuts services in Biggar

Dec 10, 2013 | 10:04 AM

A change by CN Rail means Biggar is no longer a pit stop along the main line from Edmonton to Saskatoon.

“With more customers in the corridor between Wainwright and Melville … CN is revising its operating plan effective Dec.6 to close operations in Biggar as a run through terminal,” said Warren Chandler, senior manager for public affairs with CN.

That means the majority of the 212 employees who were based out of Biggar, will now call Saskatoon their new home station.

Chandler said 167 of those employees already lived in Saskatoon and were commuting to Biggar. A few employees will still be required at the Biggar station to serve local rail customers.

A big change for the community is the closure of the CN bunkhouse where crews used to stayed between shifts or during mandatory crew changes. Now, those mandatory overnight stays and crew changes will take place in Saskatoon.

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“They’ve officially closed the bunkhouse and asked people to clean their lockers out,” said Raymond Sadler, the mayor of Biggar.

Now, the bunkhouse is standing empty, but the mayor of Biggar hasn’t lost all hope.

“It could be used for housing or apartments. It could be a small hotel. But in my deepest of hearts, I’d rather have it be what it is meant to be as a CN bunkhouse,” Sadler said.

Although no CN workers lost their jobs because of this change, Sadler is worried Biggar is losing business from rail employees who spent money in the community and could potentially lose families from the town who don’t want to commute to Saskatoon.

Sadler said there has been talk of this decision for many years and he is holding out hope it will be reversed.

“I’d like them all to come back and run crews out of here and hire out of here because it creates commerce for the whole area,” Sadler said.

“I’m always being positive. I guess that’s the way I’ll always be,” he said.

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