Well for what it's worth, from what I understood of a conversation I had with someone, the problem with Irving wasn't the Moosehead not being profitable (with overhead traffic) but the town of Lac Megantic and the politics surrounding that. They want to ship crude by rail again... and a lot of it. They didn't want to deal with the politics of connecting the line back together... however if you notice, Keach and Co pushed back the date of the auction about a month. All while this was going on, they also connected the line back to the Industrial park, while veeeerrryyy quietly connecting the two halves again. When they ran the first train to Tafisa, well what do you know, they also ran a lite power move to and from Maine. The residents won't know the difference anyways... early January is the next move across Maine and from what I'm told, dry goods will return. The deal with the MMA and the Town of Lac Megantic is specifically written that it is non-binding for the next owner of the line. I think once they start running trains (MMA will run the line until March 14th, the date the transaction is scheduled to be complete), people will be less hesitant to the trains coming back.
The long and short of this is that, Irving may very well change their mind. My conversation took place before the two halves were reconnected and from what was understood, we thought that wouldn't happen for quite some time. Keach knows the value of the Moosehead is only if the two parts are connected again so I believe he made it a priority and now the line is much more marketable. Only time will tell now and we will know by Jan 21st what happens.
The long and short of this is that, Irving may very well change their mind. My conversation took place before the two halves were reconnected and from what was understood, we thought that wouldn't happen for quite some time. Keach knows the value of the Moosehead is only if the two parts are connected again so I believe he made it a priority and now the line is much more marketable. Only time will tell now and we will know by Jan 21st what happens.