Confederation Trail
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Confederation Trail is the name for a 470 kilometre recreational rail trail system in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. It was developed in the 1990s, following the December 31, 1989, abandonment of all railway lines in the province by Canadian National Railway (CN).
Description and history
Comprising almost the total mileage of the historic
In addition to provincial government employees, the development of the Confederation Trail was assisted by the
Since its completion from
The entire trail system is marked with kilometre posts and directional and interpretive signage, as well as benches, picnic table shelters, and scenic look-offs throughout. The trail winds through Prince Edward Island's scenic agricultural and forested landscapes and is frequently crossed by public roads.
Although highly unlikely in Prince Edward Island's case, the concept of "rails to trails" is based on the premise that abandoned rail corridors should be preserved as recreational trails in order to "rail bank" these transportation arteries should the need for a future conversion back to rail usage arise.[citation needed] Prince Edward Island will likely not see this occur as the connection to the North American rail network was removed on May 31, 1997, when the ferry system to the mainland that had been used for carrying rail traffic was replaced with the Confederation Bridge.
Confederation Trail is a geocaching hotspot with over 1600 geocache sites along the route.
Currently completed
As of 2020[update] the Confederation Trail has several major routes:
Main trail
- Tignish to O'Leary (45 km easy to moderate)
- O'Leary to Wellington (45 km easy to moderate)
- Wellington to Hunter River (65 km moderate to hard)
- Hunter River to Morell (65 km moderate to hard)
- Morell to Elmira (54 km moderate)[1]
Branch trails
- Emerald to Borden-Carleton (18 km easy)
- Cardigan Junction to Montague (10 km easy)
- Royalty Junction to Charlottetown (8 km easy)
- Mt. Stewart to Georgetown (39 km moderate)
- New Harmony Junction to Souris (8 km easy)
- Stratford to Murray Harbour (80 km moderate)[2]
A large part of the railway right-of-way in the Stratford to Murray Harbour branch had been leased to local landowners in the early 1990s by CN prior to provincial ownership. The lease expired in 2015 when full trail development began on these remaining sections, including the rebuilding of several bridges.
References
- ^ "Confederation Trail". Tourism - Prince Edward Island. Government of Prince Edward Island. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
- ^ "Confederation Trail". Tourism - Prince Edward Island. Government of Prince Edward Island. Retrieved 8 August 2020.