The Sarnia Subdivision is a railroad line owned by the Lake Erie and Detroit River Railway and operated by CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 in the Canadian province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. The line runs from Chatham north to Sarnia along a former Pere Marquette Railway

Pere Marquette Railway

The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The railroad had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Buffalo; Toledo; and Chicago.The company was...

 line. From its north end, CSX has trackage rights

Trackage rights

Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....

 west over the Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

's Strathroy Subdivision (through the St. Clair Tunnel

St. Clair Tunnel

The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. It was the first full-size subaqueous tunnel built in North America. -First tunnel :The St. Clair Tunnel Company opened the first tunnel in...

) and the Grand Trunk Western Railroad

Grand Trunk Western Railroad

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad is an important subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway , constituting the majority of CN's Chicago Division ....

's Flint Subdivision to the CSX Port Huron Subdivision near Port Huron, Michigan

Port Huron, Michigan

Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administratively autonomous. It is joined by the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair River to Sarnia,...

 and the Saginaw Subdivision in Flint

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

.

History

The line was built in the 1880s as the Erie and Huron Railway, linking Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

 at Rondeau Provincial Park

Rondeau Provincial Park

Rondeau Provincial Park is a provincial park in southwestern Ontario, Canada, located on an 8 km long crescentic sand spit extending into Lake Erie. There are only two sand spits like this one in all of North America, one in Rondeau and one in Florida. Rondeau was established in 1894 as a response...

 with Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

 at Sarnia. Through leases and mergers, it became part of the Pere Marquette Railway

Pere Marquette Railway

The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The railroad had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Buffalo; Toledo; and Chicago.The company was...

, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...

, and CSX. The portion from Lake Erie to Blenheim has been abandoned; in 2006, CSX sold the line between Blenheim and Chatham to the Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

, who operates it as their Sarnia Spur.