The line was constructed by an earlier company of the same name. The
Hudson Bay Railway was built starting in the early 1900s under
Canadian Northern Railway before being taken over by the
Government of Canada and completed in 1929. The lines were operated by
Canadian National Railway from 1929-1997 before being sold to
OmniTRAX. The railway was proposed by
Edward Alexander Partridge as part of his Partridge Plan illustrated in the
Grain Growers' Guide. This was his solution to being able to ship wheat directly to Europe.
Route , required a long causeway, to the centre of the silty
Nelson River. Service was restored on August 2, 2005, two days ahead of initial expectations.
2006 sale of Keewatin Railway On April 1, 2006, the Hudson Bay Railway sold the former CN Sherridon Subdivision, between Sheritt Junction and Lynn Lake, to the three
First Nations in the area, who now own and operate the railway, running twice-weekly mixed (passenger plus freight) trains.
2017 washout and extended outage On May 23, 2017, OmniTRAX announced that due to unprecedented flooding, the line was closed indefinitely between Amery and Churchill, pending evaluation of the damages and repairs. Loss of rail service, both passenger and freight, impacted the tourism industry and imposed other costs on Churchill's already fragile economy. Churchill, and other northern communities where cargo had to be
delivered by air, faced skyrocketing prices for staples such as groceries and fuel. Due to a disagreement over what entity was responsible for repair costs, it was uncertain whether the line would ever be repaired. The Canadian government filed an $18 million lawsuit against OmniTRAX for breach of contract. The position of Canada's
Natural Resources Minister,
Jim Carr, was that "Omnitrax Inc. had legal obligations to repair the rail line and its tracks, citing a contract that required OmniTRAX to "operate, maintain and repair the entire Hudson Bay Railway Line in a diligent and timely manner until March 31, 2029." The position of OmniTRAX was that the extensive flooding constitutes a
force majeure that excused it from fulfilling the contract.
Sale to Arctic Gateway Group In August 2018, the line and port was sold to the
Arctic Gateway Group which contracted
Cando Rail Services Ltd. and
Paradox Access Solutions to begin repairing the line. On August 31, 2018, the federal government announced that they would be helping to fund the purchase of the railway, and port facilities, back from Omnitrax. Fairfax and AGT transferred their shares of Arctic Gateway Group to OneNorth (formerly Missinippi Rail) in March 2021, making Arctic Gateway and HBRY completely owned by the local government and Indigenous investors. In November 2025, the provincial government in Manitoba announced funding to help upgrade the line to bring it up to Class I status. ==Accidents==