CPR Fording River Subdivision

The Fording River Subdivision is a 33.8 mile railway line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) running from Sparwood on the Cranbrook Subdivision to Fording.

The Fording River Subdivision is part of the Kootenay Division of the CPR's British Columbia District.

= History = The line from Sparwood to Elkview was opened in 1971 to serve Westar Mining's Elkford mine opened that year; the line was subsequently extended to the Fording when the Fording River mine was opened in 1983; the Fording River mine has reserves amounting to nearly 260 million Imperial tons of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 8.2 million Imperial tons of coal.

= Services =

Freight
Freight traffic on the line is mostly empties going up the line and downbound coal shipments.

Passenger
The various categories of passenger service are defined by the Ministry of Labour, Industry & Railways in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport & Communications; these categories are applicable to and used by all railways providing passenger service in British Columbia. Like all other railways in BC, ticket prices for BC Rail passenger trains are based on the Ministry's Schedule of Railway Fares.

There is a Local passenger service running from Fernie on the Cranbrook Subdivision to Line Creek via Sparwood - Harmer is the location of Sparwood–Elk Valley International Airport, serving the Michel/Natal/Fording River area with scheduled flights to Vancouver and Kelowna in BC and to Calgary in Canada. Local trains are passenger trains that make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. The CPR's Local trains are second-class only with seat-side drink and snack service; none have baggage service.


 * 721/722, 723/724 (CP): Fernie – Sparwood – Line Creek
 * Two daily return trips, second class only, no drink/snack service.

= Route = • - Local stop