An existing concrete batching facility on Birchs Road in North Bay will soon become the first facility in Ontario to produce concrete rail ties. This is through a partnership between Rainbow Concrete Industries Ltd. and manufacturer PCM RailOne Group, headquartered in Neumarkt, Germany. The company has been making concrete railway ties for mainline and urban rail transport for more than 60 years. It formed a joint venture with Rainbow Concrete Industries Ltd., which is headquartered in Sudbury but has a location in North Bay. The agreement has led to the creation of the RailOne Rainbow Canada Corp. “This is just a clear illustration of the tremendous amount of momentum that we have in the Canadian-German relationship,” said Eric Bremermann, the chair of the board of directors of the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. “There’s always been a very good relationship between our countries. But I think this is unprecedented in terms of the level of investment that we are certainly seeing from an inbound perspective into Canada from Germany.” A 25,000-square-foot facility will be turned into the production plant, making ties for the Canadian rail industry, with the manufacturing equipment shipped in from Germany. “We’ve … taken the concrete block equipment out and we’ve installed the rail equipment,” said Boris Naneff, RailOne Rainbow Canada Corp.’s managing director. “It’s a carousel factory. So, it’s a highly automated factory.” The Ontario government is providing $1 million through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. to help refurbish the existing building, purchase the equipment and kickstart marketing activities. “Premier (Doug) Ford has always said, ‘I want every nut, every bolt, every widget to be made in Ontario,’” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, also Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Concrete rail ties are less common in North America, where the industry favours using wood. But they have their advantages over their wooden counterparts. “The beauty about a concrete railway tie is it lasts a lot longer,” Naneff said. “It’s environmentally friendly. There are no leaching ovens with the concrete railway tie.” RailOne Rainbow Canada Corp. has already secured a contract with the 15.6-kilometre rapid-transit subway stretch known as Ontario Line in Toronto, which is under construction and is set to be completed in 2030. It will supply concrete rail ties for the track, when required. North Bay is considered “the ideal location” for the plant, Naneff said. “When you look at the map, we are centrally located in Canada. We have great highway access here and we also have great rail access here,” he said. “We have a CN line and a CP line that go through and around our property.” Naneff said the plant will create 19 full-time jobs, with the goal of shipping railroad ties across Canada. “They’ve got a really good chance to grow this business at a really exponential rate,” said Fedeli, who worked for Rainbow Canada Corp. when he was a teenager making concrete blocks for three summers. By making the rail ties in northern Ontario, he said transportation costs will be reduced since there will be no need to import them from overseas. “To see them grow all these decades and flourish and now convert into something that the world needs, that Ontario needs, that Canada needs (is just great),” Fedeli added. “This whole push that Premier Ford and the prime minister are doing about ‘make it in Ontario’ and ‘make it in Canada.’ This is exactly what we’re talking about.” Matthias Lüttenberg, German ambassador to Canada, praised the project during a visit to North Bay on Friday. “Joint ventures like this one make our economic base much stronger and more reliable,” Lüttenberg said. “This is the reason why I came here today also to see with my own eyes.” Production starts this winter, with the first rail ties for the Ontario Line being shipped in the new year. When production begins, RailOne Rainbow Canada Corp. estimates 300,000 concrete rail ties will be made annually before two phases of planned expansion.
