It serves the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore and local shipping companies, and connects with two Class I railroads: CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.

Its tracks, starting from the interconnection with the Pennsylvania Railroad, were laid during the period from 1905 through 1914.

[2] The State of Maryland purchased the Canton Railroad at a bankruptcy auction in 1987 for $875,000[2] to provide railway access to the Seagirt Terminal of the Port of Baltimore.

Today the Canton Railroad is owned by the Maryland Transportation Authority and operates as a for-profit enterprise.

Engines used by the Canton Railroad are painted yellow and black in a pattern similar to that used in the Maryland and Baltimore flags.