The Fall of the Canadian Train System – The National Dream
There are few stories in history that rival the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It’s not just national pride speaking but the laying down of track from Bonfield, Ontario to Vancouver, British Columbia’s was the engineering marvel of the century.
The greatest obstacle of the rail line was in Kicking Horse Pass in the Rocky Mountains between British Columbia and Alberta where the line dropped 1,150 feet within 4 1/2 miles. The Roger’s Pass was another obstacle that required amazing engineering skills in the building of snow sheds and getting the gradient shallow enough for trains to pass in the winter. Along the way was a huge system of trestles.
As with the Union Pacific in the United States the Canadian Pacific Railroad opened up the country allowing immigrants to come in and settle the prairies. It also joined British Columbia to the rest of Canada and stopped any thought of American expansion through the western province to join with Alaska. In addition, it was built using some of the finest engineering minds in the world by a country newly-independent from Great Britain.
With the building of the railroad came a new class of visitor – the tourist. People flocked to the Canadian west to see buffalo, mountain beauty and “wild Indians” (natives in traditional garb)
The downside was how the Chinese workers were treated. They worked for meager wages and given the most dangerous jobs: carrying nitroglycerin, building the high trestles and working in raging rivers. In addition many were ordered to go back to China after the railroad was completed.
Three Questions:
1. With this history why have successive governments since the 1960′s slowly squeezed the life out of the two great railroads – the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National – when the rest of the world has increased their rail service and are working on newer, better and more environmentally-friendly trains?
2. Why does Canada built some of the best railway cars and locomotives in the world and the VIA line runs with 60 year-old passenger cars?
3. Why is the originator of the tourism industry in Canada now an expensive “milk run” across Canada that goes through the best scenery at night?
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