English / Français
The railways of Labrador and Quebec North Shore are not physically connected to the remainder of the Canadian network.
The present day railways of the area were opened in the latter half of the 20th century to serve the mining industry. Minerals, predominantly iron ore, were conveyed from the mines by rail to the coast for shipping. With one exception mentioned below, passenger services are confined to special trains for mining company workers.
None of the railways appear to have websites of their own. The links below may give some related information.
The most ambitious of the projects, QNSL was opened in 1954 by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) for the transport of iron ore from Schefferville, Labrador to the port of Sept Îles, a distance of 359 miles (573km). In 1958, a 36 mile (58km) branch was added from Emeril Junction (also called Ross Bay Junction) to the iron ore deposits of the Wabush area around Labrador City; the distance from Labrador City to Sept Îles is 257 miles (414km).
By 1982 the Schefferville deposit was worked out. The IOC workforce was transferred to Labrador City, and iron ore traffic ceased on the line from Emeril Junction to Schefferville. The line did not close entirely, however: see Tshiuetin Rail Transport.
The line from the Labrador City area to Sept Îles remains open for iron ore traffic. IOC also operates a fully automated, driverless, electric railway between the main extraction site and the crusher plant.
Soon after IOC started operations in the Wabush area near Labrador City, Wabush Mines opened its own workings in the same area. Wabush Mines was intially a joint venture of US Steel Canada, Dofasco (later a subsidiary of Arcelor Mitta1) and Cleveland-Cliffs; but since 2010 Cleveland Natural Resources (successor to Cleveland-Cliffs) have been owners of the whole enterprise. In 1963, Wabush mines opened the Wabush Railway, a short railway to connect the mine workings with the QNSL Railway. By an agreement with the IOC, the QNSL would carry Wabush Mines ore to the port of Sept Îles.
In 1965, Wabush Mines opened their own port at Pointe Noire, a little to the west of Sept Îles. A new short railway, the Arnaud Railway, (CFA) was built to connect the QNSL at Arnaud (a few km north of Sept Îles) with the new port.
In 2010, Consolidated Thompson opened the Bloom Lake Railway to serve their Bloom Lake Mine, on the border of Quebec not far from ArcelorMittal's operation at Mont Wright. The new 19 mile (30km) railway, operated by Genesee & Wyoming, carries ore from the mine to the Wabush Railway, from where it travels over the QNSL and the Arnaud Railways to reach Pointe Noire.
In 1960, the Quebec Cartier Mining Company (now ArcelorMittal Mines Canada) opened the Cartier Railway (CFC) from the company's iron ore workings at Gagnon (near Lake Jeannine) to Port Cartier. In 1977, the line was extended to new workings at Mont Wright, near the border of Labrador. Soon afterwards, the workings at Gagnon were closed.
There is currently a proposal by Consolidated Thompson to open up new workings at Peppler Lake, which would require construction of a new 12 mile (20km) branch from the existing Cartier Railway.
When iron ore extraction ceased at Schefferville in 1982, the railway had already become an important lifeline for local communities. The Canadian government therefore paid IOC a subsidy to continue operation of passenger and freight services between Emeril Junction and Schefferville. This arrangement continued until 2005 when the line was sold for a nominal sum to a new company, Tshiuetin Rail Transport.
TRT operates freight and passenger trains between Sept Îles and Schefferville, using the QNSL line between Sept Îles and Emeril Junction. The freight consists of fuel and general supplies for the remote communities. The trains also carry road vehicles; the communities are connected by road to Schefferville, but there is no highway connecting the area with the rest of the country.
TRT is jointly owned by several communities of indigenous peoples:
© 2006-2010 Glyn Williams
Photo image © 2005 Jacques L Clavette
Canadian flag image from CIA World Factbook
Labrador flag image from the RecreationNewfoundlandandLabrador website
