Company shuts down train line that transported logs for 100 years in B.C.

VANCOUVER – Western Forest Products (TSX:WEF) is shutting down its Englewood line after transporting logs by train for 100 years on northern Vancouver Island.

The company says in a release that it is closing the line for financial reasons and will now send logs to company mills and customers by truck.

It says 34 jobs will be lost at its operations in Woss, about 75 kilometres southeast of Port McNeill, B.C.

Western Forest Products says fewer than 15 people are expected to be without jobs following negotiations to transition employees to other opportunities within the company.

Last spring, three workers died and two were injured when a train hit a maintenance car and work crew on the tracks at Woss.

Western Forest Products says it will work with local communities and governments to honour the train’s long history, which dates back to 1917.