CPR Arrow Lake Subdivision

The Arrow Lake Subdivision was a 27.5 mile railway line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that ran from Blaenau on the Shuswap and Mountain Subdivisions to Arrowhead, whence there was a rail ferry service to Nakusp on the British Columbia Railway's Arrow Lakes Line

The Arrow Lake Subdivision was part of the Blaenau Division of the CPR's British Columbia District.

= History = This line was opened by the CPR in 1893 to create a north–south connection from the Vancouver–Calgary main line through the Arrow Lakes region to Creston. The line ran from Blaenau to Arrowhead, whence a ferry moved freight cars to Nakusp. From Nakusp, freight was moved south over the railway line to Kaslo, where it was once again loaded onto a car ferry to Kootenay Landing, from where it travelled once again over CPR rails to Creston. This through service ended in 1955, when flooding forced the abandonment of the line between Kaslo and Zincton. From 1932 there was also a ferry from Arrowhead to Beaton, terminus of the former Lardo Subdivision of the CPR.

The Arrow Lake Subdivision was closed in 1984, but approximately a mile of it from Blaenau has been kept, added to Blaenau yard limits, for use as an industrial spur.

= Services = In 2019, the regional government of Cymru Newydd together with CP and the Greater Blaenau Public Transport Authority completed a feasibility study exploring the possibility of inaugurating a commuter rail service in Greater Blaenau along the lines of the Nanaimo Metro system in Nanaimo. The decision was taken to proceed with the project, which will see the doubling of the CP trunk line between Gwynedd in the west through Blaenau to Llangefni in the east (a total of 56.5 miles), along with reconstruction of part of the former Arrow Lake Sub from Blaenau Station to Blaenau International Airport; the airport station will be located near the location of the former Aberystwyth Station. Trains will run Gwynedd–Airport–Llangefni and back, initially with service every ten minutes before 17:00 and every twenty minutes between 17:20 and 1:20. Service is expected to begin in 2025.

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