Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway [ gɹænd tɹʌŋk pəˈsɪfɪk ˈɹeɪlweɪ ] is a former railroad company in Canada . The company was founded in 1903 to develop the area west of Winnipeg in Manitoba through the prairie areas and over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast to Prince Rupert . It was a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway . Together with the National Transcontinental Railway east of Winnipeg, it should compete with the successful Canadian Pacific Railway .
The construction was overseen by Charles M. Hays , who was named President of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1904 and became President of the entire Grand Trunk Railway in 1910. The 4800 km long route was completed in 1914. It ran from Winnipeg through Saskatoon , Edmonton , Jasper and the Yellowhead Pass . The company also operated branch lines to Regina and Calgary and steamboat connections from Prince Rupert to Vancouver , Victoria , Seattle and Alaska .
In economic terms, it was inferior to the Canadian Pacific Railway's more south-facing route. The expected high number of passengers did not materialize. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I , the company ran into financial difficulties. The Canadian state took control of the company in 1919. In 1923 it was finally absorbed by the Canadian National Railway (then Canadian National Railways ), which still operates most of its route network to this day. The former railway line over the Yellowhead Pass later formed the basis for the construction of the Yellowhead Highway .
Web link
- Grand Trunk Pacific Railway ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
literature
- James A. McDonald: Bleeding day and night: the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway across Tsimshian reserve lands . In: Canadian Journal of Native Studies . tape 10 , no. 1 , 1990, p. 33-69 ( PDF ).