HAMILTON, Ontario — Workers at railcar builder National Steel Car have approved a new contract, ending a 41-day strike by 1,475 members of the United Steelworkers. In a Tuesday vote, 87.4% of the members of Local 7135 approved the three-year agreement, which includes a 13% wage increase over the life of the contract, with 6% […]
MONTREAL — A station on an under-construction portion of the Réseau express métropolitain light rail system was damaged in an apparent arson fire early Tuesday, police report. CTV News reports a fire on the tracks at the Canora station was reported about 12:50 a.m. Officers arriving on the scene found incendiary objects nearby, according to […]
WAINWRIGHT, Alberta — Two Canadian National trains collided west of Wainwright about 10:30 a.m. today (Aug. 8), Global News reports. No injuries were reported. CN, in a statement to Global News, said two of its trains “came into contact with each other, resulting in several derailed rail cars in various positions.” The railroad said no […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa has resumed some service on its light rail Confederation Line as of this morning (Tuesday, Aug. 8) and continues to plan for a full resumption of service on Monday, Aug. 14. Service resumed with five single-car trains between the Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations, a seven-station segment on the west end […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The labor dispute at British Columbia ports is over after port workers voted on Friday to accept the tentative deal reached earlier this week. A message posted Friday night on the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada website said that 74.66% of the union’s members had voted to accept the deal. […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa’s transit service manager now says she is “very confident” that the light rail Confederation Line will resume operation on Aug. 14, after initially hedging on that estimate. The Ottawa Citizen reports Renée Amilcar said Thursday that she holds that view “based on the work done by RTG [system operator Rideau Transit […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway this week released its 2023-24 Grain Plan, outlining its initiatives for handling Canada’s upcoming grain harvest. Efforts to handle grain traffic include deliver of another 750 new grain hoppers in 2024 and the recently announced expansion of the railroad’s locomotive modernization program [see “CN orders 60 more modernized diesels …,” […]
MONTREAL — About 25,000 trips were taken on Monday’s first day of paid service for the Réseau express métropolitain light rail service, REM officials said Tuesday. That was despite two incidents that stopped service during Monday’s peak morning commute for more than an hour [see “Montreal’s REM experiences bumpy first day,” Trains News Wire, Aug. […]
OTTAWA — Reopening of Ottawa’s light rail Confederation Line has been pushed back yet again, with Aug. 14 as the new date for the resumption of service. But the Ottawa Citizen reports that Renée Amilcar, the city’s transit services general manager, stressed that is an early estimate and subject to change, saying, “We continue to […]
The Algoma Central Railway was chartered in 1899 to build into the Ontario wilderness north of Sault Ste. Marie. Its purpose was to bring out pulpwood and iron ore. In 1901 the ambitions of its founder added “& Hudson Bay” to the corporate title. The line reached Hawk Junction, 165 miles north of Sault Ste. […]
Algoma Central locomotives provided a bit of variety in northern Ontario railroading. For a railroad its size, ACR owned a variety of steam power. The first engines were secondhand, including 11 acquired in 1899: four Lehigh Valley 4-6-0s and seven ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 0-4-0s. ACR’s first new power, four Baldwin 2-8-0s, arrived […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The government agency charged with settling British Columbia’s port labor dispute has warned the union representing dock workers that failing to ratify a new tentative agreement would be an “unfair labor practice.” The Canadian Press reports the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and BC Maritime Employees Association reached a new […]
