Polar Bear Express

Polar Bear Express
Polar Bear Express
Overview
Status	operating
Locale	Ontario, Canada
Termini	Cochrane; Moosonee;
Stations	6 scheduled, + flag stops
Service
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Ontario Northland Railway
Operator(s)	Ontario Northland Railway
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

This article is about a Canadian passenger train. For the children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, please see The Polar Express.

The Polar Bear Express is a Canadian passenger train operated by the Ontario Northland Railway in Northern Ontario. While designated as a passenger train, the Polar Bear Express also carries specialized equipment including a canoe car (in the summer), boxcars for snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles, chain cars (flat cars with tie downs) for carrying cars and light trucks (there are no roads to Moosonee so vehicles come in and out by train) and baggage and express cars.

It operates 5 days per week year-round and connects Cochrane with Moosonee. During the summer months there is an additional train on Sundays and the train often includes dining cars and a full length dome car.

The Polar Bear Express service was expanded on June 5, 2007 after increased funding from the Government of Ontario to ONR was announced in March 2007. It resulted in the discontinuation of the Little Bear mixed freight-passenger service which had operated 3 days per week, year-round, resulting in dedicated separate freight and passenger rail service to Moosonee.

In summer 2008, track conditions resulted the train running very late much of the time (2.5 hours by railway announcement). By late 2008, running times had improved somewhat and timings of five and a half to six hours for the 186 mile (300 kilometre - all distances are shown in miles along the tracks) trip were becoming typical.

Prior to the 2007 service expansion, the Polar Bear Express operated 6 days per week during the summer months. It left Cochrane in the morning, stayed for a few hours in Moosonee, and returned to Cochrane in the evening. It was primarily used by tourists, although it was used by an increasing number of local residents.

The name of the train is somewhat misleading -- polar bears are rarely seen anywhere near Moosonee. The Polar Bear Express today mostly services the residents of Moosonee and Moose Factory when they travel south from their communities that lack road connections to the rest of Ontario. During the winter, many passengers are from communities further north who travel to Moosonee by winter road before taking the train.