Teamsters Canada Rail Conference

MONTREAL - Six months after Canadian National Railway Co. formally accepted a $45-million offer from the Metropolitan Transportation Agency to buy the Montreal-Two Mountains rail line, the deal remains uncompleted.

Transport Quebec continues to analyze how the purchase can be financed, Daniel Desharnais, spokesperson for Quebec Transport Minister Julie Boulet, said late Thursday.

Asked when a decision will be made, he responded: "I cannot give you a date."

Asked whether a green light for the deal would be lit during the provincial election campaign, which ends with voting Dec. 8, Desharnais responded: "I don't think so."

CN Rail spokesperson Julie Senécal confirmed acceptance of the offer by the railway but refused further comment Thursday.

The two-track, 33-kilometre-long line carries rush-hour commuter passengers, and a small amount of freight during off-peak hours, but no Via Rail Canada Inc. inter-city passenger trains.

Most of the track was electrified during the 1990s, at a cost of about $300 million.

The transit agency currently pays CN about $2.4 million a year for use of the line, and uses it to carry about 35,000 commuters into and out of Montreal's downtown core every workday.