Especially routes leading to rural areas and specifically in Ontario. There are still some trains that travel between major cities, but now all the old logging tracks are just snowmobile and atv trails. Can anyone provide some insight into this? I feel like it would have been good to at least keep the tracks down for potential future use as new train technology evolves - such as magnetic propulsion. A few years ago they brought the train back that goes from Toronto to Barrie. I am hoping to see more of this in the future.
I can't speak specifically for Ontario, but in the Northeastern United States, including New York, Pennsylvania, and the New England States, there are a great many railroad rights-of-way that have been disused or turned into bicycle or ATV trails. The reasons for this vary, but generally it's because the expansion of the highway networks and increased use of automobiles for both cargo and passenger transport in the mid-20th century, made the operation of many smaller railroads increasingly uneconomic.
Additionally, many mainline railroad lines got used as rights-of-way for constructing large interstate highways. For instance, a large part of I-90 that runs through Massachusetts was literally constructed on top of the railbed for of the former Boston and Albany railroad.
The same thing happened in Britain in the 1960s due to a combination of nationalisation and the railways being a drain on the exchequer (public purse), increased use of cars, the cost of electrifying the railways and the Transport minister owning one of the countries largest motorway building companies. To prevent a conflict of interests when he became the transport minister he sold off all of his shares (to his wife). This all culminated in the Dr. Beeching report which made numerous recommendation such as better co-ordination between rail and bus services. So that rural infrequent buses arrive at the train station before infrequent trains leave and don't leave until after passengers from the train have got on the bus. which never happened.
The problem was that infrequently used rural lines actually lost very little money because there were very few trains and little wear and tear. The lines that lost the most money were commuter lines around London which millions of people rely on each day to get to work. Freight lines that connected coal mines to power stations and keep the "lights on" and high speed Inter-City services, necessary for connecting the country.
So in the end thousands of small rural stations were cut and hundreds of branch lines closed BBC. However it turned out that people wouldn't just get in their car drive to the mainline station, take a mainline train in the direction of where they wanted to go and then get a bus/ taxi at the other end. Instead once they got in in their car they drove all the way to their final destination. It was a massive incentive for people to buy cars and massively reduced the revenue of the railways without dramatically cutting their costs.
Unfortunately many of the minor lines were sold off piece meal. So it's completely impossible to build a road, nature trail etc. along their routes or to reopen them as a railway.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Beechings-Axe-50-Years/dp/1446302679
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1849545006
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2013/07/beeching-book-reviews/
The railways back home in Nova Scotia were mostly torn up after provincial series highways were built. They were marginally profitable before that, unprofitable after. Railways do cost a significant amount of money to upkeep, and if few trains are running on them, it becomes a money loser quickly.
hi! just fyi, this subreddit has a '20-year rule' against discussing current events/politics, so if this development is recent, then you won't be able to get a full picture from respondents here. You might consider x-posting to /r/canada or a rail/transport/planning sub for developments post 1995.