Is Brown coming back to town?

After failing to get the city's OK last summer, the former operator of the ACR says there is only one company ready, willing and able to resume the Sault-to-Hearst passenger rail service — if the city and other stakeholders will offer him a second chance.

“I needed to make a decision if I wanted to fight and turn my back on Sault Ste. Marie or go back and say, ‘I’m still here, my certifications are still here. I don’t know why we can’t work something out,’” said B. Allen Brown, president and CEO of Railmark Canada, Inc, by phone.

The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains (CAPT) hinted Monday that an ‘exciting proposal’ is on the horizon in regards to the service, which it expects will be reinstated by spring.

But Brown contends his company is the quickest option to get the service back up and running, allowing lodge owners to book customers.

“If we don’t get this train started by at least June 1, you could lose an entire industry overnight. It’s that critical,” said Brown.

He acknowledges problems when Railmark was operating the service, but says he wasn't given a fair chance to correct them.

“They are going to say, ‘He never ran the train right. He didn’t have two crews.’ Well that’s right, I didn’t have the reimbursement agreement,” said Brown.

Brown said he made the offer recently to Tom Dodds, who chairs the ACR regional stakeholder passenger service working group, to begin operating the train again.

He said Railmark is still certified and Brown believes CN will agree to allow the company to operate the passenger service once again.

Dodds did not return SooToday’s call for comment on this story.

Brown was not surprised by the recent news that a second request for proposal (RFP) phase initiated by the working group resulted in no suitable operators being chosen by CN.

Brown said Railmark did not participate in that second RFP process on advice of legal counsel.

Brown said he has been advised to take the city to court to recover costs which were never paid to the operator after more than two months of operating the service last summer.

“The city has enough problems with the Essar Steel thing without having to be faced with a $6-million lawsuit. I don’t even want to sue the city, I just want to reset the relationship and run the train,” Brown said.

In addition to losses he said were accumulated over two months of operating the train, Brown was also locked into paying an insurance policy for the operation, with $100-million of coverage.

“We have a pretty solid case, but at the end of the day, I just want to run the train,” he said.

Brown said the funding announced by Transport Canada last May was the direct result of his lobbying.

“I came up with a plan that decreased the amount of funding for the Canadian taxpayer while increasing the amount of usage,” said Brown.

The lack of passenger rail service affected ice climbing tours in Agawa Canyon, said Superior Exploration, Adventure & Climbing Co. director Shaun Parent.

"Eighty-five climbers called me this year to be guided in the canyon. We couldn't go in because of the train," said Parent.

An annual ice festival Parent organizes, which would have celebrated its eighteenth year, was also cancelled.

Parent said he liked the ideas Railmark had in terms of promoting ice climbing and tourism along the line.

"[Brown] was pretty open, positive about the ideas we had to promote the canyon with rock climbing and ice climbing," said Parent.

CN and the working group announced last July that the Hearst run would cease to operate after Railmark failed to come up with the financing the city required Brown have in place before it would agree to begin handing out a $5.3-million federal subsidy.

CN said it was not in a position to maintain interim passenger service to Hearst, but would help the Algoma Central Railway Working Group in its search for another operator.

Railmark offered to continue operating the service on a month-to-month basis until a new operator could be found, but the offer was rebuffed.

“They just didn’t want to hear it,” said Brown.

CN also rejected a request to operate a one-time ‘winterization train’ to allow camp and lodge owners to prepare their properties for the winter months.

Brown said the city of Sault Ste. Marie overstepped its authority by requiring the Wixom, Michigan company to provide proof of financing, which he said was not required by CN or Transport Canada.

Sault Ste. Marie was given too much power when Transport Canada said the subsidy money must flow through the city, he said.

Most economic activity as a result of the train’s operation, Brown said, occurs with the lodge owners and other businesses north of Hawk Junction.

South of Hawk Junction is primarily populated by camp owners, he said.

“The Canadian taxpayer shouldn't have to subsidize the people who simply want to go to their second homes or their weekend cabin on the South end,” Brown said.

The other communities along the line should have more say in the process, Brown said.

Cindy Lebrun, owner of Tatnall Camp north of Hawk Junction, said she thinks everyone needs to work together to come up with a solution.

Last year was the fortieth anniversary of the lodge and outfitter, and Lebrun said the cancellation of the train hit the business hard.

Some customers who were forced to cancel their accommodations last year suggested they will be back when the train resumes, but Lebrun said there are no guarantees.

“We can’t tell them anymore because we don’t know. It’s not good. It’s not easy to operate a business in that way because the train is such a permanent part of the trip,” said Lebrun.

The Tatnall Camp is accessible by float plane, but only in the warm months and is much more expensive or unrealistic to book — especially as the weight of hunted game adds up.

“That’s pretty hard when you’re doing moose hunts,” said Lebrun.

Brown would like to see business owners and communities further up the line have a greater role in how the service is operated, saying many north of Hawk Junction don't feel represented by the working group.

“It’s beyond me why Wawa, Dubreuilville, Hearst, Hawk Junction can simply let people in Sault Ste. Marie affect their livelihood,” he said.

Brown said he believes Railmark should receive the subsidy directly from Transport Canada, but the company needs support.

“All we need to prove is Sault Ste. Marie and all the other stakeholders and people up and down the line support Railmark as the operator and then we go to Transport Canada and do the deal direct,” said Brown.