N.S. government says it is working on regulations that would make regular inspections, repairs mandatory

Tom Ayers · CBC News · Posted: Jun 16, 2020 6:00 AM AT

Drone footage shows a three-year-old washout on the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway line west of Sydney has not been repaired by the railway owner. (Submitted by Steve Smith) 
Some Cape Bretoners are calling for immediate repairs to the crumbling rail line that runs across the island, regardless of whether a proposed container terminal gets built in Sydney harbour.

Rail is the lost infrastructure in Cape Breton

Jim Guy, Ph.D, is a Director with Scotia Rail Development Society and an author and professor emeritus of political science at Cape Breton University. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In a column I wrote two months ago ("Is it time to unite as a single provincial government," Dec. 26), I noted that the eastern part of this country runs 7,000 kilometres headland to headland, longer than is found in most any other country in the world.

While most Canadians think of us simply as the "east", "the Maritimes" or "Atlantic Canada", very few of us think of where we live as an economic gateway to the world. The "the Atlantic gateway."

15 October 2019 – Cape Breton Post

Fifteen thousand petition signatures of the citizens of Cape Breton and beyond, letters of support from mayors from Cape Breton to Truro, and from organizations and businesses around the island all reflect the concern about rail service for Cape Breton. 

Scotia Rail Development Society (SRDS) continues to protect community interests and bring the rail issue to the attention of politicians.

Paid for with public dollars over 135 years ago, the Cape Breton railway was in service until 2015, when the US-based owner was granted discontinuance on the Sydney Sub-division. Unfortunately, the current Nova Scotia Railway Act has no end date for discontinuance.

19 October 2019 – Cape Breton Post

Thank you to the Scotia Rail Development Society (SRDS) and specially to Jim Guy and Mary MacPherson, for bringing the issue of rail to the forefront in this election (“An open letter about rail in Cape Breton”, Cape Breton Post, October 15)

Firstly, we want to commend our island for the service and volunteerism we see in our two ridings, as groups such as these take on the role of advocacy and service to our communities. 

19 October 2019 – Cape Breton Post

I would like to applaud and strongly support the case put forward by the Scotia Rail Development Society on the need to restore the Cape Breton rail line (Cape Breton Post, Oct. 15). 

18 October 2019 – Cape Breton Post

One key underpinning for economic development is infrastructure, plain and simple. There has to be an affordable, environmentally-acceptable way to move goods to and from Cape Breton to the mainland.