Chatham-Kent’s foray into the railroad business is officially over.
Council bought the 42-kilometre stretch of CSX railway in an effort to spur economic development in 2006 for $4 million, but the line has been unused for almost 15 years.
The municipality sold the railway, which runs from Wallaceburg to Dresden to Chatham, to a numbered company last year.
An annual financial report to council shows the total loss absorbed by the municipality for owning the railroad from ownership to sale was just under $120,000.
“I’m glad that we closed the door on this thing,” says Councillor Michael Bondy. “It really hasn’t been a gigantic financial burden that we thought it would be…I think we came out of it pretty well.”
Council has now transferred a remaining rail reserve of $931,000 to the municipality’s railway crossing reserve.