In the late 1990s, both Canadian Pacific and Bangor & Aroostook elected to divest certain rail assets. CP sold from St. Jean, QC all the way to Saint John, NB. In 1995, Iron Roads purchased these CP lines as well as the entire network of the Bangor and Aroostook. Between the late 1990s and 2014, there were several companies that tried unsuccessfully to run these rail lines. Railroad Acquisition Holdings (an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group) bought the assets of the bankrupt Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway and in May 2014, the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ) was formed.

Central Maine & Quebec Railway owns and operates the former Bangor and Aroostook line between Millinocket and Searsport, ME, the line once owned by Canadian Pacific between St. Jean, QC, and Brownville Junction, ME, as well as the line from Farnham, QC, and Newport, VT. In January 2016, the CMQ began operating the 55.6-mile line between Rockland and Bath for the State of Maine.

CMQ’s mission is to deliver exceptional freight rail service for our customers while providing the safest transportation of their products, for the customer as well as our teammates, but most importantly for the communities through which we operate.