Skip to content
About | Contact | Advertise | Manage Subscriptions
  1. Home
  2. Industry News
  3. Transportation

First Nation leads campaign to save passenger rail

The Missanabie Cree First Nation has taken the lead in trying to restore passenger rail service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst. According to a SooToday.
Northern Ontario Business Staff
Train(2)
The Missanabie Cree First Nation has taken the lead in trying to restore passenger rail service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst.

The Missanabie Cree First Nation has taken the lead in trying to restore passenger rail service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst.

According to a SooToday.com report, Chief Jason Gauthier has taken over the chair of a stakeholder working group from Tom Dodds, CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation.

In a recent letter to city council, Dodds wished Gauthier luck in working to restart service which was cancelled by CN Rail last summer.

“A brief transition process is underway to ensure that Missanabie Cree First Nation and other passenger train related stakeholders have the appropriate contacts within Transport Canada and CN to endeavour to move this project forward,” Dodds wrote.

Gauthier is a member of the group working to find a new operator of the service and is lobbying for a government subsidy to fund the operation.

CN owns the 470-kilometre line but wants no part of operating a passenger rail service. It will allow a third-party operator to do so provided it meets certain criteria.

Last spring, Michigan-based Railmark was CN’s hand-picked choice to be that operator, but the company’s inability to secure financing forced CN to terminate the service. Railmark was also ineligible to receive a Transport Canada subsidy.