В Порт-ла-Прери на пересечении двух главных железнодорожных магистралей Канады

Portage la Prairie has long been known as a transportation hub, but a set of rails on the west side of the city gives the community a distinction that is difficult to find anywhere else in Canada.  It is located slightly northwest of 13th St NW, at the west end of Fisher Avenue along the walking path. The main lines of Canadian Pacific Kansas City, historically Canadian Pacific Railway, and Canadian National Railway cross one another at grade in Portage at what is known as a diamond junction. The Manitoba Historical Society describes the West Tower crossing as one of only a few places in Canada where lines belonging to the two railways cross. A statement in the Manitoba Legislature went further, describing Portage as the only place in Canada where the two companies’ major main lines cross. That distinction is more than railway trivia. The crossing is a reminder of how competing railway empires helped shape Portage la Prairie and western Canada. A railway city takes shape Canadian Pacific's presence in Portage dates to the earliest years of Canada's transcontinental railway development. The present CP main line between Winnipeg and Portage was constructed and opened in December 1881. Portage's surviving Canadian Pacific station came later. Built in 1893, the Romanesque Revival building is now recognized as a Heritage Railway Station of Canada. Parks Canada says the station reflects Portage's importance as a major western railway and agricultural centre and its role in the development of Canada's first transcontinental railway system. But Canadian Pacific would not have the railway landscape to itself. Other companies pushed into western Canada around the turn of the century. The Canadian Northern Railway grew from Manitoba railway ventures, while the Grand Trunk Pacific established another transcontinental route through the community. Portage's surviving CN station was built in 1908 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Midland Railway of Manitoba. Parks Canada says its unusually large size reflected the optimism surrounding railway expansion and the important role rail transportation was playing in the city's economic development. Grand Trunk Pacific later encountered severe financial difficulties and became part of the system that emerged as Canadian National Railways. Two transcontinental routes meet The result of that railway expansion remains visible today. The CP and CN routes converge in Portage before crossing at the city's west end. Unlike an overpass where one railway travels above another, the rails physically intersect at the same level. The arrangement creates the distinctive diamond shape that gives a railway diamond its name. Brandon University's Public History on the Prairies project describes Portage as home to a unique railway site where Canada's two major transcontinental railways cross at a diamond junction. The project also points to the community's two historic railway stations as reminders of the prosperity and development that accompanied the railways. The location was traditionally known as West Tower because a railway control tower once stood nearby. The Manitoba Historical Society continues to identify the location as the West Tower Railway Crossing. For generations, the crossing has meant that trains travelling two of Canada's most important east to west railway corridors pass through the same Manitoba community before their routes separate again. That makes something Portage residents may pass without a second thought an unusual piece of Canadian transportation history. The rails at Portage are not simply two tracks crossing one another. They represent the meeting point of railway systems that competed to open western Canada, carried settlers and agricultural products across the Prairies, and helped turn Portage la Prairie into the transportation centre it remains today.