Ottawa Valley Railway

Ottawa Valley Railway
	RLK #3029 entering the CP Sudbury yard
Overview
Headquarters	North Bay, Ontario
Reporting mark	RLK
Locale	Ontario, Quebec, Canada
Dates of operation	1996–Present
Predecessor	Canadian Pacific Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	150 miles (240 km)
Other
Website	www.gwrr.com/ovr

Cartier Subdivision

Legend

					CPKC Cartier Subdivision
				70.47	Jct CN Bala Subdivision (256.8)
				69.2	Jct Falconbridge Spur (0.0)
				69.1	Coniston
					Wanapitei
				62.7	Stinson
				55.1	Markstay
					Hagar
				42.0	Warren
				33.9	Verner
				26.5	Cache Bay
				23.4	Sturgeon Falls
				17.0	Collings
				10.5	Beaucage
				1.0	Clanachan
				0.0	Huard
					OVR North Bay Subdivision

North Bay Subdivision

Legend

					OVR Cartier Subdivision
				117.3	Huard
				116.9	North Bay
				115.2	Mile 115.2
					CN Newmarket Sub
				111.9	ETI Canada spur
				111.4	Thorncliff
				104.9	Camey
				97.4	Bonfield
				90.7	Rutherglen
				89.3	Columbia Forest Products spur
				84.0	Eau Claire
				76.9	Morel
				71.8	Mattawa OVR Temiscaming Subdivision
				70.0	end of steel
				65.0	Rankin
				56.0	Hodgson
				50.3	Deux Rivieres
				45.6	Aylen
				35.8	Adelard
				27.7	Stonecliffe
				20.3	Mackey
				15.0	Moor Lake
				5.3	Wylie
				0.0	Chalk River
					Chalk River Subdivision

Temiscaming Subdivision

Legend

				40.5	Temiscaming
				39.4	Grimmer
				38.7	Gordon Creek
				32.9	Beauchene
				21.0	Crest
				12.0	Snake Creek
				6.7	Ceramic
					Ottawa River
				0.0	Mattawa OVR North Bay Subdivision

Ottawa Valley Railway (reporting mark RLK) is a Canadian railway that operates 150 miles (240 km) of track in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and is owned by Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc.^[1]

The railroad began operations on 30 October 1996 under the auspices of RaiLink Canada, and fell under the control of RailAmerica after that company bought RaiLink in July 1999.^[2]^[3] It was formed to operate both local trains and through-service Canadian Pacific Railway trains between Sudbury, Ontario and Smiths Falls, Ontario.^[3] On July 23, 2012, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced that it intended to purchase RailAmerica in a deal valued at $1.39 billion.^[4]^[5] Approval of the purchase was granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on December 19, 2012.^[6]

Currently, the OVR operates between Sudbury and Temiscaming, Quebec,^[7] reduced from its original routing between Sudbury and Smiths Falls with a branch to Temiscaming.^[8]

The rerouting came about as a result of the reduction of both local traffic on the line and through traffic operated by the Canadian Pacific. As traffic was reduced on other CP routes, that railway was able to redirect trains onto its lines through Toronto, and RailAmerica's lease on the line to the east of Petawawa, Ontario ended in December 2009.^[3] The OVR continued operating the route between Sudbury and Temiscaming, and in early October 2010, RailAmerica and CP reached a new agreement under which those operations would continue, while CP would continue procedures for ending service to the east of Mattawa.^[7] On 3 August 2011, it was announced that the rails between Renfrew and Pembroke, Ontario were planned to be removed by the end of the year, with the remainder of the Mattawa—Smiths Falls route to be removed in following years.^[9]

The OVR interchanges with the Canadian Pacific at Sudbury, as well as with the Canadian National Railway at North Bay, Ontario, the Ontario Northland Railroad at North Bay, and the Huron Central Railway at Sudbury.^[2]

The railway once hauled around 70,000 carloads a year, the majority of which came from CP's intermodal bridge traffic. The rest of it was self-generated, and included chemicals and forest products.^[8] Very little of this traffic came from east of Mattawa.^[10] As of 2013, carloadings amount to approximately 8,000 per year.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "Ottawa Valley Railway". Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
^ ^a ^b "Ottawa Valley Railway - RLK". Canadian Pacific Railway. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cummings, Andy (March 2010). "Short line falls to recession". Trains Magazine. Kalmbach Publishing.
^ "Genesee & Wyoming to pay $1.39B for RailAmerica". STL Today.com. Associated Press. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "UPDATE 4-Genesee & Wyoming to buy RailAmerica for $1.4 billion". Reuters. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
^ Surface Transportation Board, Decision, Case No. 42772 Archived 2013-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, December 19, 2012
^ ^a ^b "RailAmerica inks new deal to operate Ottawa Valley Railway". Trains Magazine. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
^ ^a ^b "OTTAWA VALLEY RAILWAY (RLK)". RailAmerica. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
^ "Workers begin salvaging Canadian Pacific's Ottawa Valley line". Trains Magazine. 3 August 2011. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
^ Cody-Rice, Edith (August 5, 2011). "Death knell for Ottawa Valley rail line". The Millstone. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 23 April 2018.