Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Intercolonial Railway Company
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
Construction completed by 1876
History
A railway link between the St. Lawrence River and the Maritimes was being discussed as early as the 1840s. In 1865 a route proposed by Sandford Fleming through northern New Brunswick, which bypassed the St. John River valley and the existing Saint John to Shediac line, was adopted. The construction was guaranteed under the British North America Act of 1867 (section 145). Construction was completed by 1876. The line was never a commercial success, but nonetheless continued to grow by incorporating other lines such as the European and North American Railway which ran from Saint John to Shediac. Until 1918 it was administered by the federal government and in 1919 it became part of Canadian National Railways.