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  • Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Canada. For specific railroad questions, see Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Canada. For specific railroad questions, see Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.

Moderator: Ken V

 #1514425  by NS VIA FAN
 
A couple of recent shots at Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. The CB&CNS between Truro (interchange with CN) and Port Hawkesbury, about 110 miles still sees regular service. The 90 miles beyond Port Hawkesbury to Sydney is out of service and hasn’t seen a train for about 5 years The NS Government is paying the railway a subsidy to keep the track in place as a new container terminal may be developed at the Port of Sydney.

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 #1528471  by trainsinmaine
 
Are there any recent updates regarding the fate of this line? The expense of maintaining it as embargoed-but-"active" is considerable, but I would hate to see it abandoned without a great deal of forethought and foresight. It still bears potential as a key transportation link, and once it's gone, it's gone.
 #1545725  by Jeff Smith
 
CBC.ca: Cape Bretoners call for repairs to crumbling rail line
Some Cape Bretoners are calling for immediate repairs to the crumbling rail line that runs across the island, regardless of whether a proposed container terminal gets built in Sydney harbour.
...
Blue Morrison, whose father worked on the railway, said she has seen missing and worn ties, varied spacing between the rails, the railbed eroded by rain or floodwater and saltwater deterioration of the railbed along the Bras d'Or Lake.

She would like to see trains bringing cruise ship passengers from Sydney to the Highland Village Museum in Iona, N.S., and farther down the line to the Orangedale station.
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Steve Smith, a Coxheath, N.S., resident who lives on Bungalow Road near the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway tracks, recently shot some drone footage of a huge washout near his home and another farther west toward Point Edward.
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Charlie MacLean, co-chair of the Scotia Rail Development Society, agreed. The society was formed in 2015, just as the rail owner, Genesee & Wyoming, stopped running trains across Cape Breton and signalled its intention to abandon the line altogether due to a lack of demand.

"We want to see trains running again and we would like to see the track and the track bed owned by the province and not by a owned-from-away company that can do with it as they wish upon their whim or other financial concerns," MacLean said.
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In 2014, Genesee & Wyoming said rail traffic had fallen far below the amount needed to make the line economical and an annual subsidy of $2 million was not enough to keep it going.

The last train ran across Cape Breton heading for the mainland in October 2015.
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 #1641263  by CPF66
 
I am not sure myself, but part of CN's motive towards buying an interest in CBNS last fall was to open up more land for a possible second port in NS. There have been a few sites around Sydney and Ports Hawkesbury which have been speculated about on Facebook and in news articles, but nothing firm yet.