ORGANIZATION (Details 2)				12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 Common units	Dec. 31, 2012 Common units	Dec. 31, 2011 Common units	May 22, 2013 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. General Partner	May 03, 2011 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. General Partner	Dec. 31, 2013 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. General Partner	Dec. 31, 2013 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. Common units	Dec. 31, 2013 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. Common units and General Partner interest combined	Dec. 31, 2012 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. Common units and General Partner interest combined	Dec. 31, 2011 TC PipeLines GP, Inc. Common units and General Partner interest combined	Dec. 31, 2013 TransCanada Common units	Dec. 31, 2013 TransCanada Corporation and subsidiaries Common units and General Partner interest combined
Ownership interests in the Partnership
Ownership interest in the Partnership (as a percent)							2.00%	2.00%	2.00%		11.10%	12.60%	12.60%		28.90%
Number of common units owned	62,300,000	53,500,000	53,500,000	62,327,766	53,472,766	53,472,766				5,797,106				11,287,725
Limited partner interest (as a percent)				98.00%										17.80%