Railways and borderland spaces

The Canada–US case

Bibliographic Data

ID8423928
AuthorsRandy William Widdis (0000-0002-5318-6406, University of Regina, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume63
Issue1
Pages11-26
Publication date2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-3658 • E-ISSN: 1541-0064
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cag.12470
OpenAlexW2803220694
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

Transportation has played a decisive role in transforming the economic and social geography of both the United States and Canada and in this context, railways have been prominent. Their extension in both the American and Canadian hinterlands was designed to organize territory, increase the number of settlements, support resource exploitation, and facilitate the development of regional and national markets. While geopolitical protectionism played a somewhat more prominent role in the development of railways in Canada than the United States, rail expansion in both countries was not circumscribed by the international boundary. In fact, in many cases the border actually transcended such development. In other words, the Canada–United States border has historically presented both limitations and opportunities to railway interests. This paper argues that while the basic alignment of borderland rail networks was established during the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, the nodal structure, hub status, and corridor alignments of railways since the 1930s have changed drastically. It also contends that because such networks responded to changes in technologies, regional development, and market forces, they played different roles in configuring the various regions of the Canadian‐American borderlands

Archaeology · Boundary (topology) · Business · Context (archaeology) · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Geography · Geopolitics · Human settlement · International trade · Political science · Politics · Protectionism · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · Law · Transport and Economic Policies · Urbanization and City Planning