NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/railroad/9023

Text File | 1992-11-18 | 3.0 KB | 69 lines

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Path: sparky!uunet!utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!sifon!VM1.MCGILL.CA
From: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: CP Rail abandonment
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 56
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: vm1.mcgill.ca
Organization: McGill University
References:  <1992Nov17.104.133855@dosgate>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 14:04:07 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.104.133855@dosgate> [e-mail] (Nigel Allen) writes:
>
>CP Rail has apparently asked government permission to abandon all its
>lines east of Sherbrooke, Quebec. All or most of these lines are part of
>its Canada Atlantic railway.

Just nitpicking, but this is the Canadian Atlantic Railway.  The
Canada Atlantic was a line in Ontario and Quebec absorbed by the
Grand Trunk in the early years of this century.  I don't recall
its complete extent, but I think it ran from the Quebec-New York
(or Vermont) border to Georgian Bay.  CN's Alexandria subdivision,
from Coteau to Ottawa, is a former Canada Atlantic line.

To get back to the CP abandonment, the line from Sherbrooke to
Megantic is part of CP's Quebec Division, while the line from
Megantic to Saint John and all the branch lines in New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia make up the Canadian Atlantic.
>
> CN and CP are allowed to abandon 4% of their networks a year, I
>understand, but a large-scale abandonment like this would presumably
>require special permission.
>
>VIA Rail provides passenger service between Montreal and Halifax three
>days a week on the CP route through northern Maine and Saint John, New
>Brunswick. (It also provides three-times-a-week service on the CN route
>through northern New Brunswick.)

The VIA train on the CP route is the Atlantic Ltd.  It has been a
political football for some time.  It was cut by the Liberal government
in 1981, then restored by the Conservatives in 1985, following an
election promise.  It seemed likely to be cut again in 1989, but
some heavy lobbying, notably by Saint John mayor Elsie Wayne, managed
to save it, though with frequency reduced from 7 to 3/week.

Following the outcry over the 1990 VIA cuts, the government has been
reluctant to allow further reductions in VIA service.  It overturned
National Transportation Agency rulings allowing CN to abandon lines
from Chandler to Gaspe, Quebec, and from La Sarre, Quebec to Cochrane,
Ontario, because they would have affected VIA routes.  The proposed CP
abandonment would not take effect until 1994, after the next federal
election, so it remains to be seen how political pressure will
influence this abandonment.
>
>CP's operations in Nova Scotia were traditionally operated as the
>Dominion Atlantic Railway, which is under 999-year lease to CP.
>Passenger service on CP's Nova Scotia lines ended in the massive VIA
>cutbacks of January 1991.

That should be January 1990.  About half of the former DAR, from
Kentville to Yarmouth, was abandoned at that time.  The rest, from
Kentville to Windsor Junction, would be abandoned under the current
CP request.

Tom Box
[e-mail]