Cap-Rouge trestle

Cap-Rouge viaduct

Tracel de Cap-Rouge
Coordinates46°44′56″N 71°20′55″W / 46.7488°N 71.3485°W / 46.7488; -71.3485
CarriesRail
CrossesRivière du Cap Rouge
LocaleQuebec City, Quebec, Canada
OwnerCanadian National Railway
Characteristics
Total length1,016 m (3,333 ft)
Width52 m (171 ft)
Height173 ft (53 m)
History
Engineering design byR.F. Uniacke, M.J. Butler, E.A. Hoare, A.E. Doucet
Inaugurated1908 (1908)
Location
Map

The Cap-Rouge trestle (French: Tracel de Cap-Rouge) is a railway trestle bridge inaugurated in 1908 and still in use in the community of Cap-Rouge, part of the borough of Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was commissioned in 1906 as a section of the National Transcontinental Railway to span the Rivière du Cap Rouge valley and connect the eastbound railway with the newly built and nearby Quebec Bridge. It was built as a steel structure by the Dominion Bridge Company at a total cost of 800 000 Canadian dollars.[1]

At 173 feet (53 m), it is one of the highest structures on which trains are operated in the province of Quebec and as such, has become over the years an attractive location for trespassers. As a response, its points of access have been fenced and a video surveillance system installed.[2] As of October 2018, it is only used by freight trains, at the relatively slow speed of approximately 12 miles per hour (19 km/h).[3]

  1. ^ Lebel, Jean-Marie (2006). "Dans le ciel de Cap-Rouge, un "TRACEL" centenaire". La Société historique de Cap-Rouge (in French).
  2. ^ "CN Submission to the Railway Safety Act Review Panel" (PDF). Transport Canada.
  3. ^ Porter, Isabelle (2013). "Tracel de Cap-Rouge : au-delà des mauvais souvenirs". Le Devoir (in French).