The Central Maine & Québec Railway was a Class II

freight railroad Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haule ...

operating in the U.S. states of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

and the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

with headquarters in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

. It was owned by Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of

Fortress Investment Group, LLC A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

. It is now a subsidiary of

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

since June 2020. Its United States operations were named the Central Maine & Québec Railway US Incorporated with offices in

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and were registered with the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Interstat ...

on February 14, 2014. Its Canadian operations were named the Central Maine and Québec Railway Canada Incorporated with offices in

Sherbrooke, QC Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

, and were registered with Revenue Québec on February 14, 2014.

History

The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway , itself a product of the 2002

Iron Road Railways Iron Road Railways Incorporated (IRR) was a railroad holding company which owned several short line railroads in the U.S. state of Maine, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. IRR was formed in 1994 and headq ...

bankruptcy, filed for bankruptcy in the United States and Canada on August 7, 2013, following the fiery Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, in which a runaway crude oil train killed forty-seven people and caused an estimated $200 million in property damage to downtown Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The company received protection under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

of the United States Bankruptcy Code and under the

Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act The ''Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA; french: Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies) is a statute of the Parliament of Canada that allows insolvent corporations owing their creditors in excess of $5 million to ...

in Canada to oversee the sale of assets. In December 2013,

, through its subsidiary Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC (RAH) placed a

stalking horse bid A stalking horse offer, agreement, or bid is a bid for a bankrupt firm or its assets that is arranged in advance of an auction to act as an effective reserve bid. The intent is to maximize the value of its assets or avoid low bids, as part of (or be ...

on the operating rail lines, which was accepted by the bankruptcy trustee in January 2014. In February 2014 RAH announced that it had formed the CMQ to become the operating entity of the rail lines and that the sale would be concluded in March 2014. CM&Q received its certificate of fitness from the Canadian Transportation Agency on June 24, 2014. In March 2014, John E. Giles of RAH drove the length of the line, visiting communities and industries served by the railway and inspecting the condition of tracks and installations. He estimated a $10–20 million investment would be needed over three years to repair the rail line, then in poor condition and not safe for the transport of oil or dangerous goods. In the same year, the CMQR acquired 10 GMD SD40-2Fs from Canadian Pacific Railway. The company planned to resume transport of crude oil by rail in January 2016; however, this did not happen due to petroleum market conditions. In 2017, CMQ took over operations of the former NS Hannibal Subdivision in Ohio from Norfolk Southern. The line services several Fortress owned industries at the former Long Ridge Energy Generation Facility in Clarington, Ohio. CIT owned SD40-2's 3053 and 3082 were assigned to operate the line. Crews were sent from Maine for a week at a time to operate trains. After the CP takeover, this operation was retained by Fortress Investment under the former CMQ subsidiary Katahdin Railcar Services. On November 20, 2019, it was announced that Canadian Pacific Railway would purchase CMQ. Canadian Pacific's CEO, Keith Creel remarked that the acquisition would give CP a true coast-to-coast network across Canada and an increased presence in New England. This would result in several former CP rail lines in Maine and Quebec, which were sold over the years to CM&Q's predecessor railroads, being reacquired by CP. On June 4, 2020, CP officially finalized its acquisition of CMQ.

Rockland Branch Operation

In September 2015, CMQ was selected by the Maine Department of Transportation to operate the state-owned Rockland Branch rail line between Brunswick and Rockland, taking over the line from previous operator Maine Eastern Railroad on January 1, 2016. The CMQ proposal did not include the operation of passenger excursions that had been operated by Maine Eastern, ending 11 years of successful passenger rail operations along the Maine coast. At the end of August 2021, it was announced Finger Lakes Railway would take over operation of the Rockland Branch. Soon after the STB approved the transfer of operation, Dragon Cement, the largest shipper on the line, announced they would no longer ship cement out of its Rockland facility by the end of the year, ending the rail shuttle operation that makes up most of the revenue for this line.

Routes

CMQ owned and operated the following rail lines: * Searsport Subdivision ( Northern Maine Junction, ME to Searsport, ME) * Millinocket Subdivision ( Northern Maine Junction, ME to Millinocket, ME) * East Millinocket Subdivision ( Millinocket, ME to East Millinocket, ME) * Madawaska Subdivision ( Millinocket, ME to start of

Maine Northern Railway The Maine Northern Railway Company Limited is a U.S. and Canadian short line railroad owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglomerate ...

) * K.I. Subdivision ( Brownville, ME to Brownville Junction, ME) * Moosehead Subdivision ( Brownville Junction, ME to Lac-Mégantic, QC) * Sherbrooke Subdivision ( Lac-Mégantic, QC to Brookport, QC) * Adirondack Subdivision ( Brookport, QC to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) * Newport Subdivision ( Brookport, QC to Newport, VT) * Stanbridge Subdivision ( Farnham, QC to Stanbridge, QC) * St-Guillaume Subdivision ( Farnham, QC to Sainte-Rosalie, QC) * Maine DOT Rockland Branch ( Rockland, ME to Brunswick, ME) * Maine DOT Atlantic Branch ( Rockland, ME to Rockland, ME) * Hannibal Subdivision CMQ owned a total of of rail line which are broken down by jurisdiction as follows: * in Maine * in Quebec * in Vermont

Interchange points

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

** Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC ** Sainte-Rosalie, QC *Canadian Pacific Railway ** Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC * Eastern Maine Railway ** Brownville Junction, ME *

** Millinocket, ME * Pan Am Railways ** Northern Maine Junction, ME **

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

* St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad / ** Lennoxville, QC * Washington County Railroad ** Newport, VT

Failed expansions

*When the Providence and Worcester Railroad was listed for sale in 2016, Fortress Investment attempted to purchase the P&W, but ultimately Genesse and Wyoming was the high bidder. Based off first-hand information from former CMQ employees, had the P&W been purchased the railroad would have retained its original name, while being a subsidiary of the CMQ.

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Central Maine and Quebec Railway Former regional railroads in the United States Defunct Maine railroads Defunct Vermont railroads Defunct Quebec railways Companies based in Bangor, Maine Companies operating former Canadian Pacific Railway lines Predecessors of the Canadian Pacific Railway Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiaries Railway companies established in 2014 2014 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 2014 Railway companies disestablished in 2020 American companies disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in New York (state) Standard gauge railways in Canada