“A tremendous amount of hard work has seen northern communities reach this critical milestone,” said Town of Churchill mayor and OneNorth co-chair Mike Spence in a March 11 press release. “Together with our partners we are taking the next important steps to realize our vision for a national Arctic trade corridor.” The transfer to local ownership takes place about four years after OmniTrax stopped operating the railway after spring flooding washed out portions ofd the rail line between the Pas and Churchill, which came a year after the then-owner laid off port staff and announced that it would not be shipping anything out of the port that summer. Trains did not run on the rail line for more than a year as OmniTrax refused to make repairs but they were completed with a few months after the new owners took over.