Until the decision was ( to close it in the early 1990s,the canadian pacific was for many years the world's greatest rail ( over a hundred years ago at tremendous ( cost, it stretched 2,887 miles from montreal to the pacific ( dense pine forests and massive mountains.the line was cut through ( rjck by 30,000 men working in huge areas of ( country,often in terrible weather conditions. in many ways, canada is a nation that was ( by railways.western cities like calgary would not exist if the trains had not passed ( there, and that long thin line was what once ( such hugely different places as newfoundland on the atlantic with vancouver on the pacific. another victim of air ( that is both cheaper and easier. eastern canadians, ( their american neighbours, do not feel drawn towards the west.when it is ( zero in toronto or quebec they fly south to the carribbean rather than freeze in winnipeg.