Northern port working to keep CN rail service

The Port of Belledune is being assured that a review being done by CN on its northern line will not affect port business.

CN has announced that its Newcastle Line has seen a decrease in traffic over the years.

That decrease in traffic is raising concerns that CN will abandon the line and switch to the New Brunswick mainline.

A potential switch by CN could create problems for the Port of Belledune.

But Rayburn Doucet, the chief executive officer of the port, said he has been assured this review will not have an impact on northern businesses.

"We're working as partners to try and develop the Port of Belledune and to get traffic. So I don't have any concerns at this time that there would be any withdrawal of services from this area," Doucet said.

CN has said if a route is cut in the future, the company would still have to maintain it for at least two years. That would allow another company an opportunity to buy the line.

The northern town of Dalhousie was informed in 2009 that it could lose its northern rail service.

A CN spokesperson said the closure of a Dalhousie paper mill and two chemical plants in 2008 eliminated its only customers in the town.

If the line is not purchased by 2012, CN said the tracks that have run through the northern town since 1883 will be dismantled.