The Chemin de fer de la Rivière Romaine (in English, the Romaine River Railway) is a Canadian short line iron ore mining railway operating in eastern

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 thirtee ...

Description

The railway runs for from the port of

Havre-Saint-Pierre Havre-Saint-Pierre is a town on Pointe-aux-Esquimaux, which is on the Quebec north shore (Côte-Nord) of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. Located along Route 138 some east of Sept-Îles, it is the largest town and seat of the Minganie RCM, ...

on the north shore of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

inland to a massive

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

(titanium iron) deposit at Lac-Allard. At Havre-Saint-Pierre, the mineral is loaded aboard

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

s and shipped upriver to the port of

Sorel-Tracy Sorel-Tracy (; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley. It is located at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre, downstr ...

COGEMA Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires'') and Areva NC, is a French nuclear company. It is the main subsidiary of Orano S.A. It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, inclu ...

operates a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

that connect with the line. QIT also operates passenger trains for workers, as the mine is not accessible by road. The Romaine River Railway began operating in 1949 and is owned and operated by

QIT-Fer et Titane QIT-Fer et Titane (QIT from its old name "Quebec Iron and Titanium") is a Canadian mining company located in Quebec. The company operates an ilmenite (titanium oxide ore) mine at Lake Tio in northern Quebec, and in southern Quebec operates refining ...

, which is a subdivision of the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto Group.

References

External links

QIT
Quebec railways Iron ore railways Mining railways Mining in Quebec Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries {{Quebec-transport-stub