With little fanfare, Chatham-Kent council has unanimously approved the sale of a municipally-owned railway to a numbered company for $5.2 million.
Chatham-Kent picked up the railway, which runs from Wallaceburg to Dresden and from Dresden to Chatham, for $4 million from CSX in 2006.
There were hopes that the railway could be used for economic development purposes with possible business partners, but the railway has been empty for the past 13 years, costing close to $60,000 in expenses each year.
Ward 6 Councillor Doug Sulman was against the purchase from the beginning.
“I still don’t think a municipality should be in the railway business,” Sulman says. “Our business is to stick to our knitting, make sure the roads are good, recreation facilities are acceptable, and that taxes aren’t out of this world.”
The pending sale includes the land and all track materials.
The buyer has asked for confidentiality for a period of time for commercial reasons.