The (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 . RailTex was purchased by
RailAmerica in
2000 .
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 .
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.
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.
