Excavation of the Rail Cut Started a Year Prior to the Outbreak of the First World War

HalifaxUrbanGreenway_RailCut.pdf 1 2013-12-04 9:58 AM Halifax Ocean Terminals Rail Cut

Excavation of the rail cut started a year prior to the outbreak of the First World War. It was completed in 1917, just before the Halifax Explosion, in time to allow emergency relief trains from Boston to safely enter the South End of the city with their cargo of medical personnel and supplies. The existing rail line in the North End had been located near the site of the explosion. Both the rail line and the North Street terminal were heavily damaged. Credit: Canada Science and Technology Museum, STR fonds, STR27967a Origin of the Cut The loose rock material was removed with a steam locomotive shovel brought to the site on newly-laid track.

Halifax MP and Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden (Prime Minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920) wanted to make the Port of Halifax and its connecting railway the foundation of a new national transportation network. A northern route onto the peninsula, made possible by the removal of His Majesty’s Canadian Dockyard to Dartmouth and the conversion of its North End site to piers and sheds, made the most sense. However, this was opposed by the Department of Militia and Defence.

The city had virtually no role in deciding the location of the ocean terminals or in

C mitigating their impact. The city's business leadership did not want to endanger or M

Y delay the project, and supported the South End rail cut plan despite its impact on

MY residential areas. Turning of the rst sod marked the start of the Halifax Ocean

CMY Terminals project on July 31, 1913. Although the rail cut was a signi cant undertaking, K it was completed in only four years with very rudimentary equipment, as depicted in the accompanying photos.

Its Importance Since Credit: Canada Science and Technology Museum, STR fonds, STR27964a

Trains of at cars hauled away the rock to create new marshalling yards on Halifax Harbour and on Bedford Basin. The piers and sheds of the Ocean Terminals were not completed until 1928. Between Temporary suspension bridges spanned the cut at each street or driveway. then and 1971, 1.5 million immigrants passed through the doors of Pier 21. Most of them travelled through the rail cut to destinations across Canada. During World War II, most of the 496,000 Canadian troops departing the Port of Halifax for overseas came by train through the cut.

Both freight and passenger trains use the rail cut. Until 1969, crated and bulk goods were o-loaded from ships and transferred to box cars and at beds. In that year, Halterm - next to Point Pleasant Park - became the rst common-user container terminal in Canada. In 1995, Canadian National Railway initiated double-stacked container service between Halifax and the U.S. Midwest.

Today, there are daily double-stack train departures to Montreal, Toronto and Chicago. Six days a week, Via Rail passenger trains either depart for or arrive from Montreal.

Credit: Canada Science and Technology Museum, STR fonds, STR28054a Credit: Canada Science and Technology Museum, STR fonds, STR27954a The work crews included both men and horses. A number of houses along the route of the cut had to be re-located Blasting through the bedrock was the rst step in excavation of the cut. or demolished.