Manitoban National Railway
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Toscouné, Manitoba |
| Reporting mark | MN |
| Locale | Manitoba, with extensions in Superior and Astoria |
| Dates of operation | 1940–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 21,831 miles (35,134 km) |
The Manitoban National Railway (French: Chemin de fer national du Manitoba, or informally Manitobain Nationale; reporting mark MN), referred to as Manitoban National for short, is the railroad crown corporation in Manitoba that owns 21,831 miles of track mostly in Manitoba with extensions into Astoria and Superior. It is one of the largest rail networks in North America after Sierra's Royal Pacific, Superior's Great Northern, and the United Commonwealth's Conrail. MN is both a freight rail and intercity passenger rail network (its passenger service is known as Via Rail), providing service to all eight provinces of Manitoba and having joint trackage rights over some lines in Astoria and Superior.
It was created as the Canadian National Railway in 1932 by what was then the government of Canada as an emergency wartime measure during Great War I, with multiple existing railroads being placed under its control to transport military supplies inside of Canada (today the states of the former Canadian space, including Manitoba, Quebec, the Maritimes, and the Ontario Autonomous Region of the United Commonwealth). CN became the largest rail network in Canada, mostly based in the east and center, and rivaled the size of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which owned track in the west, in what was then Alberta and the Northwest Territories. In 1933, CPR was also combined with CN. After the war ended and the country of Canada dissolved as parts of it broke off, the successor government renamed the remaining loyalist provinces as the new nation of Manitoba. The former CN-CPR network was consolidated as a crown corporation in 1940, receiving the name Manitoban National Railways (MNR). In 1962, the "Railways" became "Railway" in official documents, and it was not used by the company except in formal settings, with its common name becoming "Manitoban National" in English or Manitobain Nationale in French (MN).
For many decades the Manitoban National Railway was the most practical means of transportation across Manitoba, especially the western and northern parts of the country that were not part of the dense highway network to the southeast, and was instrumental for the country's economic development. As late as 1980 it was one of the largest and most influential companies in the nation. MN was also a leader among North American railroads in the improvement of train safety systems and logistics. Like other railroads in North America, it saw a decline in passenger train service due to the introduction of airlines and the automobile, but as of 2019 it still runs 500 trains a week across all eight Manitoban provinces and is seen by the Government of Manitoba as an important provider of passenger transportation in the country.
During the 1990s the Manitoban National Railway wanted to extend its network by purchasing several regional railroads in Superior (including the Minnesota, Saint Anthony and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad and the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad) but the merger was rejected by the government of Superior. Despite this, MN remains one of the leading railroads on the continent.
History
Passenger service
Locomotives and rolling stock
Paint schemes
Operating divisions
See also
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Canadian National Railway, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).
This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Canadian Pacific Railway, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).
