Browse "Transportation"

Displaying 1-20 of 76 results
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Airport Architecture

A new wave of construction was inspired by the formation of the Department of Transport in 1937 and the inauguration of Trans-Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) in 1937. Dorval Airport (1940-41) near Montréal represented the new breed of airports.

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British Columbia Railway

The British Columbia Railway was incorporated as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in 1912 to build a line from North Vancouver to Prince George, where it was to link up with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

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Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway company (CPR) was incorporated in 1881. Its original purpose was the construction of a transcontinental railway, a promise to British Columbia upon its entry into Confederation (see Railway History). The railway — completed in 1885 — connected Eastern Canada to British Columbia and played an important role in the development of the nation. Built in dangerous conditions by thousands of labourers, including 15,000 Chinese temporary workers, the railway facilitated communication and transportation across the country. Over its long history, the Canadian Pacific Railway diversified its operations. The company established hotels, shipping lines and airlines, and developed mining and telecommunications industries (see Shipping Industry; Air Transport Industry). In 2001, Canadian Pacific separated into five separate and independent companies, with Canadian Pacific Railway returning to its origins as a railway company. CP, as it is branded today, has over 22,500 km of track across Canada and the United States. It is a public company and it trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CP. In 2020, CP reported $7.71 billion in total revenues.

This is the full-length entry about the Canadian Pacific Railway. For a plain-language summary, please see The Canadian Pacific Railway (Plain-Language Summary).

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Canals and Inland Waterways

These 2 great journeys were first made just before the end of the 18th century, and by the same man. Alexander Mackenzie reached the mouth of the river which now bears his name in 1789, and was the first European to cross the North American continent (to Bella Coola) in 1793.

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Cobourg and Peterborough Railway

One of the 2 earliest railway charters granted in Canada, the Cobourg Rail Road Co was incorporated in 1834 to build a railway from Cobourg northward to Peterborough across Rice Lake. The project was shelved until 1846, when it was revived as the Cobourg and Rice Lake Plank Road and Ferry Co. Samuel Gore built his plank road the 17 km to the lake, but it barely survived the first 2 winters.

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Confederation Bridge

The Confederation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water. The toll bridge spans a 12.9 km stretch of the Northumberland Strait connecting Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island, to Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick. Although the bridge would provide a faster and more reliable link to the mainland, the decision to proceed sparked heated debate on the Island. The $840-million bridge opened on 31 May 1997.

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Contemporary Railways

In the 4 decades following World War II, Canada's 2 major railways became major conglomerates, among the largest companies in Canada. During the 1950s and 1960s a number of major resource railways were completed.

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CTrain

CTrain is a light rail transit system in Calgary, Alberta. It is operated by Calgary Transit, a public transit service owned by the City of Calgary and operated through its Transportation Department. Service began on the initial downtown transit corridor and south line in 1981. It expanded to northeast Calgary in 1985, to the University of Calgary in the city’s northwest in 1987 and to the city’s west side in 2012. Most of its route and stations are at surface level. Calgary Transit operates the CTrain in conjunction with an extensive network of bus routes. Through equivalency purchases of wind-generated electricity, it has been entirely wind-powered since 2001. Its two separate lines comprise 45 stations, 118.1 km of track, and an average daily ridership of 312,300 (2018).

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Dawson Road

Dawson Road, a trail running from the northwest corner of LAKE OF THE WOODS to Fort Garry [Winnipeg], a distance of about 120 km, was the western end of the "Dawson Route," an all-Canadian route from Thunder Bay to

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Dempster Highway

The Dempster Highway runs from near Dawson, YT, 730 km across the northern Yukon through the Richardson Mountains to Fort McPherson and Inuvik, in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories. Begun in 1959, it was the

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Dewdney Trail

The original Dewdney Trail was a 400 km trail route extending from Hope to Galbraith's Ferry on the Kootenay River. The trail was routed and constructed under the supervision of Edgar DEWDNEY, a civil engineer appointed by Frederick Seymour, the governor of the colony of BC, in April 1865.