The Trillium Railway is a Canadian

short-line 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 ...

operating in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Much of its right-of-way in the Niagara area was formerly part of the " Welland Canal Railway" (also known as the Welland Railway) that closely followed the route of the second

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines t ...

. Trillium Railway began operations in 1997 with only eleven kilometres of railway, all of which were located in

Port Colborne Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after S ...

. With an expansion in 1998, Trillium added 55 kilometres of track between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and St. Thomas. Another expansion in 1999 added another 55 kilometres of track in

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

Thorold Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. The Welland Canal passes through the city, featuring lock 7 and the Twin Flight Locks. History The first su ...

, and St. Catharines. In the

Niagara Region The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southern ...

, Trillium's trackage, referred to as

Port Colborne Harbour Railway The Port Colborne Harbour Railway , formed in 1997, serves various industries in the Port Colborne area and along the New Welland Canal. The principal commodities transported are wheat, scrap, woodpulp, bauxite, and lumber. The Port Colborne Harb ...

, is made up of

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

's former secondary and branch lines, including a number of urban spurs, on the west side of the Canal. CN and

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

interchange with Trillium at CN/CP Feeder. Trillium no longer operates on the south tracks of the

Townline Tunnel The Townline Tunnel is an underwater tunnel in Welland, Ontario, Canada carrying Highway 58A as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway under the Welland Canal. The tunnel The Townline Tunnel is a two-cell reinforced concrete tunnel with a re ...

under the Welland Canal. From July 2018 until the line's closure in December 2021, Trillium operated the

Orangeville Brampton Railway The Orangeville-Brampton Railway was a long short line railway between Orangeville and Streetsville Junction in Mississauga, Ontario. It passed through the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon. At Streetsville, the OBRY connected wit ...

under contract from the Town of Orangeville, taking over operations from Cando Rail Services Ltd. The train was discontinued in 2019

Closed subdivision

The

St. Thomas and Eastern Railway The St. Thomas and Eastern Railway was a shortline railway division of the Trillium Railway, operating near St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. The main commodities transported on the railway were grain, salt, and chemicals. St. Thomas and Eastern conn ...

operated over the former CN Cayuga Spur, the historical "Canada Air Line". It reached the city of St. Thomas via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

over CN.

References

External links

Trillium Railway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trillium Railway Ontario railways Companies based in Ontario Transport in Port Colborne