Canadian Atlantic Railway
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| Locale | Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Maine |
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| Dates of operation | 1988–1994 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Saint John, New Brunswick |
The Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a Canadian and U.S. railway that existed from 1988 to 1994.
The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail (CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces and state of Maine. Its creation was predated by several years of declining traffic during the 1980s on CPR's eastern mainline from Montreal to Saint John and its supporting branchlines. The assets of CAR were sold or abandoned in stages and the company ceased to exist December 31, 1994 as CP Rail exited eastern Canada and at the same time ceased to be a transcontinental railway.
The CAR included all lines operated by CPR east of Megantic, Quebec, totaling 909.3 mi (1,463.4 km).
The rail lines comprising the CAR system were built by the European and North American Railway, New Brunswick Railway, International Railway of Maine, Dominion Atlantic Railway, the Windsor and Annapolis Railway and the Nova Scotia Railway.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CAR abandoned almost all of its branch lines in New Brunswick and Maine north of McAdam, NB except for a remnant of the Edmundston Subdivision which was preserved as an industrial spur in Grand Falls, NB. South of McAdam, the St. Stephen Subdivision was kept, as well as its core industrial spurs in western Saint John and the mainline McAdam, Mattawamkeag and Moosehead Subdivisions connecting the Maritimes to Montreal. In Nova Scotia, the CAR abandoned the lines west of Kentville to Yarmouth following cancellation of Via Rail services in January 1990.
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