CN Caso line in Southern Ontario

[Anonymous]

Why would the goverment allow Canadian National to abandon a line that is the shortest distance between Buffalo N.Y. and Detroit Michigan? Are there no U.S. railroad interested in purchasing this line? This line was once owned by the New York Central/ Michigan Central RR.

[Anonymous]

The CASO line was always primarily a passenger railroad. It never had enough on line shippers to justify its existence. What traffic there was could be reached over other connecting lines, for example the CP Rail's St. Thomas Branch. It was also laid with the NYCs odd 127# Dudley rail, an odd size that was never particularly good to begin with. There are a number of other routes to Detroit with more traffic inside the U.S. without the hassle of two border crossings. Unfortunately, the CASO is not survivable as a through route. Even the former Wabash (now NS) traffic has long since moved to trackage rights on CP. Luck of the draw...

LC