New Brunswick Southern Railway

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New Brunswick Southern Railway

Reporting marks	NBSR, EMR
Locale	New Brunswick, Maine
Dates of operation	1994 –
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Saint John, NB

The New Brunswick Southern Railway (NBSR) and Eastern Maine Railway (EMR) form a 189 mile railway system operating a former Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) mainline between Saint John, New Brunswick and Brownville Junction, Maine.

NBSR's corporate trackage consists of all former CP trackage in the province of New Brunswick, including the 84 mile mainline from Saint John to the International Boundary at St. Croix, several miles west of the village of McAdam, as well as a 31 mile branch between McAdam and St. Stephen. This latter branch connects to an isolated section of former Maine Central Railroad (MEC), now operated by Guilford Rail System (GRS), at Calais, Maine. NBSR also operates a 3 mile spur in Saint John to serve the port on the lower West Side of that city. NBSR crosses the St. John River in Saint John using its Reversing Falls Railway Bridge and makes a connection with Canadian National Railway (CN) at Island Yard in the city's east end.

EMR's corporate trackage is a continuation of the NBSR mainline at the International Boundary in Vanceboro, immediately across the St. Croix River from the hamlet of St. Croix. From Vanceboro, EMR's trackage runs 105 miles west to Brownville Junction with a connection along the way to GRS and southern New England at Mattawamkeag. EMR connects with the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) at Brownville Junction, which operates the north-south former Bangor and Aroostook Railroad trackage in Maine, as well as the continuation of the CPR mainline from Brownville west to Montreal.

EMR is a non-operating subsidiary of NBSR and was created as a holding company to own the trackage in the state of Maine, whereas NBSR locomotives, railway cars and track equipment operate over the entire system in both Canada and the United States. NBSR and EMR are themselves subsidiaries of industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited of Saint John. The companies were established in 1994 and began operations between Saint John and Brownville Junction during the first week of January 1995 following the December 31, 1994 abandonment by CPR of its lines east of Farnham, Quebec.

The system's trackage between Saint John and Mattawamkeag was built as the European and North American Railway, with the portion in New Brunswick operated by the New Brunswick Railway (later purchased by CPR) and the portion between Vanceboro and Mattawamkeag operated by MEC, over which CPR obtained trackage rights; this section was sold to CPR in 1974. EMR's trackage west of Mattawamkeag to Brownville Junction was built as part of the International Railway of Maine, opening in 1889 and making CPR a transcontinental railway system.

In 2002, NBSR entered into an agreement with CN to operate the latter's yard facilities in the East End of Saint John.