The Mackenzie Northern Railway (reporting markRLGN) is a 602-mile (969 km) Canadianrailway operating in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.[1] It is the northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network.[2] Since being purchased by CN in 2006,[3] the railway's mainline consists of the Slave Lake (Smith, AB - Winagami, AB),[4]Peace River (Winagami - Roma Jct., AB),[5]Manning (Roma Jct., - High Level, AB),[6] and the Meander River (High Level, AB - Hay River, NT)[7] subdivisions.
The Great Slave Railway's operation was entrusted to Canadian National Railway in 1966, which had been operating the line on behalf of the federal government since it opened. A spur line continued east from Hay River along the south shore of Great Slave Lake to the mine at Pine Point. This section was abandoned in 1988 after the mine closed and ore concentrate shipments ceased.[8] The total mileage in the Northwest Territories from the border with Alberta to Hay River is approximately 130 kilometres (80 mi).
The NAR had been jointly owned by CN and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) since 1928. In 1981, CN purchased the other half of the NAR from CP,[10] allowing CN to operate continuously from Edmonton to Hay River.
Sale to RailLink Canada
Between November 1997 and May 1998 CN sold its lines running from Smith, Alberta, on the former NAR (north of Edmonton) to Peace River and Grimshaw and on to Hay River to a shortline operator, RailLink Canada.[11] RailLink Canada consolidated these lines under the name Mackenzie Northern Railway.
RailLink Canada was subsequently purchased by RailAmerica, which operated the Mackenzie Northern Railway between Smith and Hay River. Commodities include agriculture and forest products from northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories, as well as fuel and supplies destined for Arctic communities to be barged across Great Slave Lake and down the Mackenzie River to the Beaufort Sea.[11]
CN buys lines back
On January 19, 2006, CN announced the purchase from RailAmerica Inc. of the Mackenzie Northern Railway, the Lakeland & Waterways Railway, and the Central Western Railway (jointly known as RLGN/CWRL).
CN came full circle by paying $26 million for the three northern Alberta rail lines it had sold nine years previously.[12]