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| Railways in Canada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Operation | |
| Major operators | Canadian National Railway Canadian Pacific Kansas City Via Rail |
| Statistics | |
| Ridership | 84 million a year[1] |
| System length | |
| Total | 49,422 km (30,709 mi) |
| Electrified | 129 km (80 mi) |
| Track gauge | |
| Old gauge | 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) |
| Main | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
Canada has a large and well-developedrailway system that primarily transports freight. There are two major publicly traded transcontinental freight railway systems,Canadian National (CN) andCanadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). Nationwide passenger services are provided by the federalcrown corporationVia Rail, and three international services to theUS byAmtrak. Three Canadian cities havecommuter train services: in theMontreal area byExo, in theToronto area byGO Transit, and in theVancouver area byWest Coast Express. These cities and several others are also served bylight rail ormetro systems. Only one (Toronto) has an extensivestreetcar (tram) system. Smaller railways such asOntario Northland Railway also run passenger trains to remote rural areas. TheRocky Mountaineer andRoyal Canadian Pacific provide luxury rail tours for viewing scenery in theCanadian Rockies as well as other mountainous areas ofBritish Columbia andAlberta.
Canada has 49,422 kilometres (30,709 mi) total trackage, of which only 129 kilometres (80 mi) is electrified (allurban rail transit networks). Canada uses1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge track for the majority of its railway system. The exceptions to this are small lines isolated from the main North American rail network used in resource industries such as mining or forestry, some of which arenarrow gauge, and thestreetcar and heavy-railsubway lines of theToronto Transit Commission which use abroad gauge of4 ft 10+7⁄8 in (1,495 mm).
The first Canadian railway, theChamplain and Saint Lawrence Railroad, was opened outsideMontreal in 1836.[2] Heavy expansion of the rail system did not get under way until theGuarantee Act of 1849 that guaranteedbond returns on all railways over 121 km (75 mi). This led to rapid expansion of railways inthe Canadas, sometimes excessive growth as uneconomic lines were built since the government guaranteed profits.
This proved disastrous for government finances, however, and the Canadas were all but bankrupted by the subsidies. The largest rail project of this period was also a disaster. TheGrand Trunk Railway linkingMontreal toSarnia was finished in 1860, but was vastly mired in debt. In exchange for bailing out the company the government escaped its guarantee on the railway bonds.
Canadian Confederation was made possible in part by the railways. The separate colonial governments had all but emptied their treasuries building railways, and a new and more stable method of financing them was required. It was also believed that union would allow for the needed construction of railways linkingBritish North America. TheMaritimes joined only because of promises to build theIntercolonial Railway, andBritish Columbia only because of a promise to build atranscontinental railway.
The government had learned its lesson, and these railways were not funded by guarantees. Rather, the construction of the Intercolonial was fully controlled by the government under the direction of SirSanford Fleming.
The railway to the Pacific, theCanadian Pacific, was financed by private funds and through massive land grants in the Canadian prairies (much of it of little value until the railway arrived), $25 million in cash and a guaranteed monopoly. The railway, an engineering marvel that was then the longest in the world, was completed in 1885 to great fanfare.
The booming Canadian economy after 1900 led to plans to build two new transcontinental railways. TheCanadian Northern, a successful system covering the northern part of the prairies, and the Grand Trunk (through itsGrand Trunk Pacific subsidiary) both launched ambitious plans to expand. The government at first encouraged the two to come to some arrangement and build only one new network, but in the end no agreement was made and the government supported the expansion of both systems. The federal government itself built theNational Transcontinental, a line fromMoncton, New Brunswick, throughQuebec City toWinnipeg, passing through the vast and uninhabited hinterland of theCanadian Shield.
This aggressive expansion proved disastrous when immigration and supplies of capital all but disappeared with the outbreak of theFirst World War. The Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk Pacific, and Grand Trunk werenationalized by the federal government, which absorbed the debt of over two billion dollars. All three railways, along with theCanadian Government Railways (formed by the Intercolonial, National Transcontinental, and several smaller lines) were then merged into theCanadian National Railways between 1918 and 1923.
The years after the First World War saw only moderate expansion of the rail network and the age of the great railways was over in Canada. Theautomobile provided strong competition by the 1920s, and after theSecond World War most passengers were lost to automobiles andairlines. During the post-war period several large resource lines were opened in Quebec, Labrador, and British Columbia – several of which are not directly connected to the main North American network.
In 1978 the government createdVia Rail which took over all national passenger service in the country. In 1987 theNational Transportation Act partially deregulated the railway industry in Canada and removed much of the red tape that railways experienced when attempting to abandon unprofitable lines; however, the NTA is now viewed as more of a failure[citation needed] in that railways used the legislation merely as a first-resort after "demarketing" a line, rather than a last-resort after trying to find a short line buyer. In November 1995 the federal government privatized CN, and in 1996, the government corrected the NTA 1987 shortfalls[citation needed] with theCanadian Transportation Act which more fully deregulates the railway industry.
While the federal government legislates, and regulates through such bodies asTransport Canada, the railways, various provinces have their own legislation, and indeed if the railway is contained exclusively within the province, are governed by it unless the federal government declares it of importance to the entire country.[3] TheRailway Association of Canada, a lobby group, provides lists of legislation,[4] regulation,[5] orders,[6] and circulars[7] on its website.
TheCanadian Transportation Agency maintains a list, with status updates, of federal railway operators.[8] This list is somewhat opaque, because certain owners set up operations in the names of holding companies. This list includes:
Provincial and regional railways include:
In addition, several U.S. operators connect to the Canadian network:
United States – same gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Across Canada by train travel guide from Wikivoyage
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