Could the CBNS run to Sydney once again? (Photo by Tim Hayman)
Just as the date approaches that the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) Railway can apply to abandon the Sydney Subdivision, there’s a little glimmer of hope that the line might not be quite dead yet. On November 19th, Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP) and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) issued a press release announcing that they are in discussions with CBNS to provide rail service for any future port developments in Sydney.
The HPDP was established to develop and market a deep water container port in Sydney, along with an adjacent logistics park. HPDP was also charged by CBRM with assembling a consortium of marine and financial service partners to realize this project. For such a project to be a success, securing suitable transportation options is an important step: hence the decision to reach out to the CBNS. There’s no doubt that a rail link would be extremely valuable for this sort of project.
Weeds cover the rails at Orangedale station on August 28, 2015
“The stationmaster is long since gone,” lamented the Rankin Family. Sadly, the last revenue train crawled past the legendary station at Orangedale some ten months ago. And if the American owners of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway have their way, the next activity at Orangedale – and indeed along the entire 98 miles of track between St. Peter’s Junction and Sydney – would be the scrappers removing the rails. But that must not be allowed to happen.
The original construction of this rail line was a public undertaking, and it operated for many years as part of the Intercolonial Railway, subsequently absorbed by the Crown corporation Canadian National. CN sold the entire route from Truro to Sydney to a shortline operator in 1993, and there have been several changes of ownership since – during which time there has been considerable physical deterioration of the property as traffic volumes continued to fall for a variety of reasons. In 2014 the current owner, Genesee and Wyoming, announced its intent to abandon the Sydney Subdivision, declaring the operation uneconomic. The company declined to accept renewal of a subsidy offered by the Nova Scotia government.
Last month the Province’s transportation department released a summary of three studies commissioned to investigate various aspects of the issue for the Minister’s Rail Advisory Committee. These included an engineering assessment of the condition of the line and what investment might be required to return it to an acceptable standard; an examination of economic opportunities in Cape Breton, and how they relate to continued availability of rail service; and an analysis of commodities that had until recently been moving by rail and the implications of requiring them to move to highway transport.
