Great Sandhills Railway

The Great Sandhills Railway (reporting mark GSR) is a Canadian short line railway company that operates 198 kilometres (123 mi) of track west of Swift Current, Saskatchewan in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Great Sandhills Railway

Overview
Parent company	Regional Rail, LLC
Headquarters	Leader, Saskatchewan
Reporting mark	GSR
Locale	Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada
Dates of operation	2009 (2009)–Present
Predecessor	Canadian Pacific Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	198 kilometres (123 mi)
Other
Website	www.gsrail.net

Great Sandhills Railway
Empress Subdivision
mi 0.0 Mayne junction with CPR Maple Creek Sub 7.1 Cantuar 9.2 hot box detector 13.9 Success 22.5 Pennant 23.6 Wickett junction with Hazlet Spur 26.7 Battrum 30.1 Grant 34.9 Cabri 42.9 Shackleton 51.0 Abbey 57.8 Lancer 61.6 hot box detector 64.2 Portreeve 75.8 Sceptre 82.1 Prelate 87.0 Leader East 88.2 Leader junction with Burstall Sub 89.3 end of track
Hazlet Spur
mi 0.0 Wickett junction with Empress Sub ( mile 23.6 ) 5.0 end of track
Burstall Subdivision
mi 0.0 Leader junction with Empress Sub ( mile 88.2 ) 1.0 Leader South 13.8 hot box detector 24.9 Burstall 26.0 junction with McNeill Spur 27.0 end of track
McNeill Spur
mi 0.0 junction with Burstall Sub ( mile 26.0 ) McNeill 5.4 end of track

The railway began operations on March 14, 2009.[1] Great Sandhills Railway owns and operates on former Canadian Pacific Railway's Empress Subdivision, Burstall Subdivision and Hazlet Spur (collectively known as the "Empress Short Line"). Great Sandhills Railway also operates on the McNeil Spur, but this track is owned by a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Sandhills Terminal.[2] The purchase price for the Empress Short Line and the McNeil spur was $6.3 million, with $1,907,200 funded by a provincial loan under the Short Line Financial Assistance Program. At startup, the Great Sandhills Terminal was the major shareholder while other shareholders included local producers and businesses.[1][3]

The railway serves freight stations in Burstall, Mendham, Leader, Prelate, Sceptre, Portreeve, Lancer, Abbey, Cabri, Battrum, Pennant, Success, Cantuar, and Swift Current. It interchanges with both the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Great Western Railway in Swift Current, via running rights on CP's Maple Creek Subdivision between Mayne and Swift Current.[4]

The railway hauls grain from terminals, elevators and producer loading sites, and also moves products from the Empress Gas plants in Alberta.[1]

In November 2022, G3 Canada sold the railroad to 3i Group's Regional Rail, LLC.[5]