Northlander

Northlander
The Northlander at Englehart station.
Overview
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Ontario, Canada
Termini	Toronto Union Station Cochrane
Stations	14
Service
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Ontario Northland Railway
Operator(s)	Ontario Northland Railway
History
Opened	1976; 48 years ago (1976)
Closed	September 28, 2012
Reopened	2026 (planned)[1]
Technical
Track length	776 km (482 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend Polar Bear Express 10:45 Cochrane 9:50 Matheson 9:05 Swastika 8:25 Englehart 7:55 New Liskeard 7:40 Cobalt 6:55 Temagami 5:10 North Bay 3:55 South River 3:00 Huntsville 2:25 Bracebridge 2:10 Gravenhurst 1:45 Washago 0:00 Toronto This diagram: view talk edit

The Northlander was a passenger train operated by the provincially-owned Ontario Northland Railway in southwest and northeast Ontario, Canada. In 2012, rail service was discontinued and replaced with express bus service. Rail service will be reinstated in the mid-2020s with an expanded route, greater frequency, new Siemens Venture trainsets manufactured by Siemens Mobility, and various track and station upgrades.^[1][2] The new bi-directional route will run up to seven days a week from Toronto Union Station to Timmins, with an additional new rail connection from Timmins to Cochrane (where passengers can then connect directly to the Polar Bear Express at Cochrane Station) and express bus service from Matheson to Cochrane Station.^[3]

Prior to 2012, the Northlander operated six days per week year-round in both directions and connected Cochrane with Toronto. The train typically consisted of one engine, an auxiliary power unit, two coaches and a cafeteria lounge car. It ran on ONR tracks from Cochrane to North Bay and on CN tracks south of North Bay to Toronto.