KPR's financial trouble spells higher prices for consumers

VERNON – Financial troubles for a small British Columbia railway operating in the southern Interior could mean a ripple-effect of higher prices for consumers.

A receiver has been appointed for Vernon-based Kelowna Pacific Railway, suspending the company's operations on a so-called short line between Kelowna and the Canadian National Railway yards in Kamloops.

KPR has been operating the short line since 2000 and also has running rights on separate Canadian Pacific Railway tracks stretching east from Vernon to Lumby and north to Armstrong.

Several large businesses, including three Tolko forestry mills, juice and fruit products manufacturer Sun-Rype, and Superior Propane depend on KPR to carry their goods to market.

Loss of the rail connection could mean higher costs as those large businesses and numerous smaller ones turn to trucks as their only method of transport.

KPR moves about 16,000 carloads of lumber, agricultural and industrial products annually and employs between 40 and 50 people, most of them in Vernon.

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