In order to better the existing conditions of handling its train service, and to relieve as much as possible the already heavily worked yards and general freight terminals, both at Point St. Charles and on the Mountain Street to Chaboillez Square freight sidings, the company has constructed two extensive systems of freight yard tracks. One of these is located at Southwalk, about two miles east of the passenger station at St. Lambert, and the other is at Turcot, in Notre Dame de Grace Ward of the City of Montreal. At St. Lambert there is an aggregate of about twenty-seven miles of new sidings, and at Turcot, twenty-two miles of new tracks have been laid down.
It is an interesting feature of these yards that no shunting or switching movements is done on the main lines.
So far this chapter has dealt exclusively with the Grand Trunk Railway System proper, and no mention has been made of that momentous period of the railway history of the Dominion in which we now live and which followed the agreement entered into between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Dominion Government. This agreement provided for the construction of a railroad clear across Canada, from Moncton, New Brunswick to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, wholly within Canadian territory. The project was conceived by the late President Chas. M. Hays, of Montreal, who was one of the victims of the Steamship Titanic disaster.
The new line, known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, is now practically complete and is already operating over the major portion of its road, there being a fine passenger and freight service between Ft. William, Ontario, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Its construction marks the most important development of the Grand Trunk, since the amalgamation with the Great Western Railway of Canada, and it is expected to make the Pioneer Railway of Canada one of the greatest forces in the development of the country, the uniting of East with West into one huge harmonious whole.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was incorporated October 24, 1903, following the contract entered into between the G.T.R. and the Dominion Government, on July 29th of the same year, providing for the construction of the line as a joint government and Grand Trunk enterprise.
Roughly the terms under which this huge work is being carried out are as follows: The railway is divided into two sections, Eastern and Western. The Western Division, extending from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, is subdivided into the Prairie and Mountain sections, and the entire line has been constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company.
The Eastern Division, 1,804 miles in length, is being constructed by the Canadian Government, under supervision of the Commissioners of the Transcontinental Railway. It links Moncton with Winnipeg, and thus gives the company a clear coast to coast line. Upon the completion of the work, the Government leases the Eastern Section to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for a period of fifty years, on the following terms:
For the first seven years of the said term, the Company shall operate the same subject only to payment of “Working Expenditures;” for the next succeeding forty-three years the company shall pay annually to the government, by way of rental, a sum equal to 3 per cent per annum upon the cost of construction of the said division, provided that if, in any one or more of the first three years of the said period of forty-three years the net earnings of the said division, over and above “Working Expenditure” shall not amount to 3 per cent of the cost of construction, the difference between the net earnings and the rental shall not be payable by the company, but shall be capitalized and form part of the cost of construction, upon the whole amount of which cost a rental is required to be paid at the rate aforesaid after the first ten years of the said lease, and during the remainder of the said term.
All the branch lines of the Eastern Division will be constructed by and at the cost of the company.
The company is responsible for the construction of all lines west of Winnipeg, the Government guaranteeing the principal and interest of three-quarters of the cost of the main line from Winnipeg to the Pacific Coast terminus at Prince Rupert, B.C., for fifty years, but with the limitation that such three-quarters of the cost shall not exceed thirteen thousand dollars per mile on the Prairie Section—with no limitation, however, in regard to the cost of the Mountain Section. The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada has guaranteed the principal and interest for fifty years of the balance required to complete the main line of the Western Division.