Opened 1897 Terminis Québec, Massena | Line length 77.4 mi (124.6 km) | |
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ⁄2 in) | ||
The Montreal Subdivision is a railroad line owned by the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway and CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York and Canadian province of Quebec. Operations are by CSX Transportation. The line originally ran from Massena, New York northeast to Kahnawake, Quebec along a former New York Central Railroad line. At its south end, the St. Lawrence Subdivision continues south; its north end was at Adirondack Junction, a junction with the Canadian Pacific Railway's Adirondack Subdivision, along which it had trackage rights north over the Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge into Montreal.
Contents
History
The piece from Huntingdon, Quebec north to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield opened in 1892 as part of the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway. The line from Valleyfield to Beauharnois was originally a branch of the Grand Trunk Railway, built in the 1880s. The StL&A leased this line and in 1897 opened an extension from Beauharnois to Adirondack Junction. The line passed to the New York Central Railroad and Conrail through leases, mergers, and takeovers. Conrail bought the line from Massena to Huntingdon from the Canadian National Railway in 1993. The line between Beauharnois and Kahnawake was abandoned in the late 1990s. In the 1999 breakup of Conrail, the Montreal Subdivision was assigned to CSX Transportation.
The portion Beauharnois - Kahnawaki (Adirondack Junction) is not abandoned but dormant. No abandonment has been filed.
MMA Purchase
In June 2007, the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway expressed interest in purchasing some or all of the Montreal Subdivision.