Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway

Reporting marks	CBNS
Locale	Nova Scotia, Canada
Dates of operation	1993 – present
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Stellarton, Nova Scotia

The Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway (CBNS) is a 392 km (245 mile) railway operating in Nova Scotia between Sydney and Truro with spurs at Sydney, Port Hawkesbury/Point Tupper, Trenton and Stellarton.

The mainline (and related spurs) were formerly owned by Canadian National Railway and were sold to shortline holding company RailTex in October, 1993, making CBNS one of Canada's first shortlines to be acquired from a class I railway. On 4 February 2000, RailTex, including CBNS, was purchased by RailAmerica for US$325,000,000.

CB&CNSR freight train northbound on the Abercrombie spur, 12 Sep. 2003.

The CBNS route crosses varied and beautiful scenery ranging from mixed farmland, forests and river valleys formed by the Appalachian Mountains, to the Strait of Canso (it crosses on the Canso Causeway) and various inlets of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On Cape Breton Island, the line runs beside the spectacular Bras d'Or Lake.

CB&CNSR coal train westbound at Havre Boucher, 18 Sep. 2003.

The line interchanges with the Sydney Coal Railway (SCR), formerly the Devco Railway, at Sydney, and with CN at Truro. Yards are maintained at Sydney, North Sydney, Point Tupper, Havre Boucher, Stellarton, and Truro.

Customers include two pulp and paper mills, a tire manufacturing plant, two coal-fired thermal electricity generating stations, a natural gas liquefication plant, a large railway car factory, and several smaller shippers including local forestry contractors. Traffic has fallen dramatically at the eastern end of the railway following the closure of a steel mill and several coal mines near Sydney. CBNS is currently applying to abandon this section of its line.

Truro interchange yard between CB&CNSR and CN, 2006.

VIA Rail's Halifax-Sydney weekly seasonal tourist passenger train, the Bras d'Or, operated along the entire length of the CBNS, in addition to some CN trackage between Halifax and Truro, from 2000 to 2004. Due to the possible abandonment of the eastern part of the CBNS network, VIA Rail suspended the service in early 2005. In September 2005 the government of Nova Scotia announced that it would provide CBNS a $10 million subsidy to keep the rail line from Port Hawkesbury to Sydney open for the next 5 years.