The Keewatin Railway Company is a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

-owned

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

that operates in

northern Manitoba Northern Manitoba (also known as NorMan or Nor-Man) is a geographic and cultural region of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Originally encompassing a small square around the Red River Colony, the province was extended north to the 60th paral ...

, between The Pas, and

Pukatawagan Pukatawagan is a First Nations community about north of The Pas in Manitoba. It is part of the Mathias Colomb First Nation. It can be reached by train from The Pas by a branch of the Keewatin Railway Company, a passenger service provided by Vi ...

. This is Canada's second First Nations railway, the first being

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

and

Northern Quebec Northern Quebec (french: le nord du Québec) is a geographic term denoting the northerly, more remote and less populated parts of the Canadian province of Quebec.Alexandre Robaey"Charity group works with Indigenous communities to feed Northern Queb ...

's Tshiuetin Rail Transportation. The railway company currently operates a line formerly owned by Hudson Bay Railway, and used by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

passenger trains. Via Rail previously operated a twice-weekly passenger rail service between The Pas and Pukatawagan through an operating agreement with Hudson Bay Railway Company. This passenger service continues under a new operating agreement between Keewatin Railway Company and Via Rail , which still operates twice-weekly passenger trains (Numbers 290/291) through an agreement with the new company. These are

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...

History

The rail line was originally the 185-mile (310 km-long) Sherridon Subdivision, between Sheritt Junction and

Lynn Lake Lynn Lake is a town in the northwest region of Manitoba, Canada, approximately from Winnipeg. The town is the fourth-largest town in Manitoba in terms of land area. It is centred on the original urban community of Lynn Lake. The town was named ...

. This was part of the Hudson Bay Railway (HBRY) system, and Via Rail had operated trains between The Pas and Pukatawagan under an agreement with HBRY, but had suspended them from July 27 and August 2, 2005, because the Hudson Bay Railway line had become unsafe due to recent heavy rains in the area loosening the railbed. On April 1, 2006, the Hudson Bay Railway sold the Sherridon Subdivision to the three native tribes in the area, who now own and operate the railway. The First Nations-owned railway company received $4.9 million dollars in grants from the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

, $1.25 million from the

Government of Manitoba The powers and structure of the provincial Government of Manitoba (french: Gouvernement du Manitoba) are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "government" referred broadly to the cabinet of the day (formally ...

and $500,000 from three First Nations communities (the Mathaias Colomb Indian Band,

Tataskweyak Cree Nation The Tataskweyak Cree Nation ( cr, ᑕᑕᐢᑿᔭᕽ, tataskwayak) (Formerly known as ''Split Lake Cree First Nation'' in English) is a First Nations band government whose primary community is located at Split Lake, Manitoba, on the Nelson River ...

, and the

War Lake First Nation The War Lake First Nation ( cr, ᒨᓱᑯᐟ, môsokot) is a First Nations community located within the boundaries of Ilford, Manitoba Ilford is an Indian settlement in northern Manitoba, Canada. The Mooseocoot Indian reserve is located within th ...

, who jointly own and operate the railway to this day) for the railway line purchase. The Federal Government has also given the three tribes up to $3.2 million for start-up fees and investments, which include the purchase of

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

railway equipment Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, transitional services, office equipment, and infrastructure work (maintenance) on the rail line. This funding comes from the Regional and Remote Passenger Rail Services Contribution Program administered by

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

References

External links

Keewatin Railway Company Website

Map of former Sherridon Subdivision (now Keewatin Railway Company)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071123012631/http://alaskacanadarail.org/newsletter-06-06.html Information at AlaskaCanadaRail.org
Press Release from the Government of Manitoba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keewatin Railway Manitoba railways Companies operating former Canadian National Railway lines Passenger railways in Manitoba Transport in The Pas Transport in Northern Manitoba