Melancthon township council is urging public meetings prior to a county sale of its rail corridor north from Orangeville while, meantime, a resident is sounding alarm bells about potential traffic, and Highland Railway Group is seeking to "dispel the myths."

Apart from the fact that Dufferin County Council is in closed-door negotiations with Highland and awaiting an appraisal of the rail bed, that is the essence of the present status of the potential resurrection of the Toronto- Owen Sound branch line killed by CP Rail about a decade ago.

The three items — letters from resident Karren Wallace and from Highland president Joseph Izhakoff along with the Melancthon motion — are before the council tonight.

Highland is the first group to have expressed a formal interest in restoring the rails since CP removed them. Ms. Wallace contends the purpose is to facilitate aggregates extraction and shipping of it. (Highland Railway is part of the group that bought about 5,000 acres of North Dufferin potato lands.)

"Many of the actions taken by the company on these lands, including archaeological studies, woodlot cutting, test drilling and contact with various ministries, together with the anticipated purchase of the rail lands, indicates that the lands will not be used for farming, but open pit mining," Ms. Wallace says in her letter to the council.

She goes on to say that the rail line would serve only Highland's own needs, and not those of other shippers. "I would suggest that if you think that this private rail line is going to stop to pick up tourists to have them travel between Owen Sound and Toronto and all ports in between, or stop and let companies transport their own goods, you are greatly mistaken," she says.

Mr. Izhakoff dismisses that as Myth Two: "We have stated repeatedly, for the record and in different settings that our vision for a rail corridor from Streetsville to Georgian Bay is to grow the current railway's shipper base, increase its volume of traffic, and improve its financial performance," he says in an open letter to the council.

He might have been alluding, among other things, to the purchase agreement with Orangeville of the southern

portion of the line. According to the agreement, the municipality would make an effort to expand the shipper base.

Mr. Izhakoff makes no reference to passenger service to Owen Sound, but says it's a myth that the Credit Valley Explorer (south from Orangeville) would cease to exist. (Continuation of The Explorer is a condition of the Orangeville sale to Highland.)

Says Mr. Izhakoff: "We have stated for nearly a year that the Explorer will continue to operate in accordance with existing agreements."

Ms. Wallace takes the position that the rebirth of rail would not help the local economy. Mr. Izhakoff describes that position as one of the myths.

Says he: "In fact, a number of observers have commented on the improved commercial potential of railways in recent years. Rail is less costly for shippers, it reduces the volume of trucks on our roads and it produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

"Not only have existing freight customers of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway expressed interest in the potential of an extended rail line (but) other companies have indicated an interest in moving their operations to the area if that goal is achieved.

"Thus, the offering of a low-cost transportation alternative could assist the County and its member municipalities in attracting future economic activity and its benefits along the rail line," Mr. Izhakoff says in his open letter.