Railroad Forums
Moderator: Ken V
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.
...
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.
...
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.
...
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.
...
Nova Scotia government ends subsidy for dormant portion of short line
CAPE BRETON, Nova Scotia — The government of Nova Scotia has ended a subsidy for a dormant section of short line in the province because it sees no chance the line will be restored to operation any time soon, the CBC reports.
The move regarding the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway comes after Canadian National bought a stake in the Genesee & Wyoming line last year [see
“CN acquires stake …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 2, 2023]. Provincial Economic Development Minister Susan Corkum-Green said it could cost up to $500 million to repair the inactive portion of the line, and that when she spoke with CN officials, they indicated they were looking to invest elsewhere.
...
CPF66 wrote: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.Was opening a 2nd port a part of the plan? CN has an interest in the railroad as long as it generates enough carloads as they are their only class 1 interchange.
