Fort Nelson Line
The Fort Nelson Line is a 328.2 mile railway line of the British Columbia Railway (BC Rail) running from Chetwynd on the Peace River Line, to RBCAF Fort Nelson. In addition, at Big Lake it connects to the Saturn Branch, at Leyton to the Site C Branch, at Taylor to the Domforco Spur and the Supertest Spur, and at Noralta Junction to the Canadian National Railway's Fort St John Subdivision. The mainline is electrified between Chetwynd and Fort St John, and all three branch lines are electrified as well.
The Fort Nelson Line is Line 804, the Domforco Spur is Line 8041, the Supertest Spur is Line 8042, the Saturn Branch is Line 8043, and the Site C Branch is Line 8044 of BC Rail's Northern Region.
There is a locomotive depot at Fort St John.
History
The Fort Nelson Line was opened by the British Columbia Railway in 1968; two years later, the Northern Alberta Railway opened an 89.7 mile extension to its McLennan–Hines Creek Line from Hines Creek, Alberta to Fort St John; when the NAR was taken over by Canadian National in 1981, the McLennan–Fort St John line became CN's Fort St John Subdivision.
Since the late 1990s, some thought has been given to building a railway to connect Fort Nelson with Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, terminus of CN's Mackenzie River Subdivision, via Maxhamish Lake, Fort Liard, and Nahanni Butte. In 2003-4 aerial surveys were made jointly by CN and BC Rail to identify potential routes, but no further work has yet occurred. Although both governments, CN, and BC Rail continue to express interest in the project, it does not appear likely to happen before the 2030s.
Domforco Spur
This is an electrified, 2.6 mile branch from Taylor to the Domforco Taylor mill, opened 1968.
Supertest Spur
This is an electrified, 1.8 mile branch from Taylor to the PetroBC petrochemical complex opened in 1971.
Saturn Branch
This is an electrified, 21.2 mile branch from Big Lake to the Shell BC Saturn 1 LNG plant, opened in 1987.
Site C Branch
This is an electrified, 4.1 mile branch opened in 2015 to the construction base for BC Hydro's Site C dam now under construction. After the dam is completed (scheduled for 2025), the line will be closed and removed.
Services
The Canadian National Railway has running rights over BC Rail trackage between Noralta Junction and Fort St John.
Freight
South of Fort St John, freight traffic is heavy in wheat and other grains, processed forest products, chemicals, etc, whilst north of it is relatively light, moving mostly wheat south to port, however at Rose Prairie, PetroBC operates a small petrochemical plant. The 2021 opening of the LNG terminal at Kemano Beach brought an increase in traffic, with LNG being shipped from Hillstrom Oil's plant at Wilder to the terminal for export. Fort Nelson Station is passenger-only; freight for the city of Fort Nelson is handled at Muskwa Station.
When the LNGBC terminal at Kitimat opens, scheduled in 2023, traffic will increase yet again, as PetroBC has an LNG compression station at Callista, and gas from Shell's plant on the Saturn Branch will all be shipped by rail to this terminal.
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.
Local
Local trains are passenger trains that make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. There are two Local trains on the Fort Nelson Line, one operated with electric multiple-unit trainsets, the other by diesel locomotive; baggage and parcel service is available for a surcharge.
- 8041E.1-2/8042E.1-2: Dawson Creek - Chetwynd - Fort St John
- Two daily round trips operated by EMU, first and second class with a cafeteria compartment.
- 8043.1-2/8044.1-2: Fort St John – Fort Nelson: 2x daily
- Two daily round trips, first and second class with a cafeteria car.
Route
A yellow background indicates an electrified section.
• - Local stop
| - No passenger service
| Station | Milepost | Tariff-miles from prev. stn. |
Connecting lines | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chetwynd | 0.0 | 0 | Peace River Line | ||
| East Chetwynd | 2.4 | 2 | - | Chetwynd Forest Products sawmill and plywood factory | |
| Bond | 11.9 | 10 | - | ||
| Big Lake | 18.3 | 7 | Saturn Branch | ||
| Wilder | 40.5 | 22 | - | Hillstrom Oil LNG plant | |
| Leyton | 46.7 | 6 | Site C Branch | Quarry | |
| Whitestone | 54.8 | - | - | Freight only, quarry | |
| Taylor | 58.3 | 12 | Domforco Spur Supertest Spur |
||
| Noralta Junction | 68.0 | - | Fort St John Sub (CN) | Junction point only, no commercial service | |
| Fort St John | 69.5 | 11 | - | MacMillan Bloedel, Viterra grain elevator, Transand Fort St John, Lafarge Cement, Brenntag Chemicals, Richmond Steel, Rockwater Energy Solutions, BC Forest Products plywood factory | |
| Rose Prairie | 80.3 | 10 | - | PetroBC petrochemical plant | |
| Montney | 89.2 | 9 | - | Agricultural siding | |
| Callista | 108.9 | 19 | - | PetroBC LNG compressor station | |
| Blueberry River | 113.2 | 5 | - | Passenger flag stop only, no siding | |
| Buick | 118.0 | 5 | - | Agricultural siding | |
| Fontas | 258.1 | 70 | - | Passenger flag stop only, no siding | |
| Muskwa | 320.4 | - | - | Freight only, grain elevator and numerous other industries | |
| Fort Nelson | 324.9 | 66 | - | Passenger only | |
| RBCAF Fort Nelson | 328.2 | - | - | Freight only, RBCAF airbase | |