The Chemin de fer de la Matapédia et du Golfe (in English, the Matapedia and Gulf Railway) was a

short line railway In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US ...

that operated in eastern

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

from 1998-2008. Owned by the holding company

Quebec Railway Corporation Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

(QRC), CFMG operated freight service between

Rivière-du-Loup Rivière-du-Loup (; 2021 population 20,118) is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Kamouraska. Its one of ...

in the west to Matapédia in the east as well as from

Mont-Joli Mont-Joli () is a city in the La Mitis Regional County Municipality within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It is the county seat. The city is located east of Rimouski near the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. History ...

to the port of Matane.

1998 establishment

The Chemin de fer de la Matapédia et du Golfe was established on 19 January 1998 as a subsidiary of QRC to operate the eastern half of the former

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN) Mont Joli Subdivision (this being the former

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...

mainline) between

and Matapédia. This first incarnation of CFMG had the following spurs and/or connections: *

- CFMG connected with CN which continued to operate the western half of the Mont Joli Subdivision to

and St. Andre Junction, as well as the Matane Subdivision to Matane. * Matapédia - CFMG connected with sister company

Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs The Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs (in English, the Chaleur Bay Railway) was a short line railway that operated in eastern Québec from 1996 to 2007. Owned by the holding company Quebec Railway Corporation (QRC), CBC operated freight service b ...

(CBC) which operated the line northeast from Matapédia to Gaspé. CFMG also connected at the interprovincial boundary between Quebec and New Brunswick (at the

Restigouche River The Restigouche River (french: Rivière Ristigouche) is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec. The river flows in a northeasterly direction from its source in the App ...

) with sister company

New Brunswick East Coast Railway The New Brunswick East Coast Railway was a railway that operated in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It included of track of which were mainline between Campbellton and Pacific Junction near Moncton. Important spurs connected Dalhou ...

(NBEC) which continued the former CN mainline southeast to

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because of ...

. On 14 February 1999, QRC purchased from CN the Mont Joli Subdivision between

and

as well as the Matane Subdivision between

and Matane. At the Port of Matane, CFMG connected with the railcar ferry service to

Baie Comeau Baie-Comeau (; 2021 city population 20,687; CA population 26,643) is a city located approximately north-east of Quebec City in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River ne ...

which was also purchased from CN by QRC and was operated as a separate subsidiary company called

Compagnie de gestion de Matane Compagnie de gestion de Matane Inc. (COGEMA) is a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway (CN) operating a dedicated railcar ferry service in Quebec between Matane and Baie-Comeau; additionally it provides occasional railcar ferry service to i ...

(COGEMA). CFMG later obtained running rights over CN approximately west from

to St. Andre Junction where it connected with the CN mainline from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. In 2007 QRC sold its

CBC subsidiary to

Société de chemin de fer de la Gaspésie The Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie (in English, the Gaspésie Railway Society) is a Canadian short line railway located in eastern Quebec operating of track from its interchange with Canadian National Railway (CN) at Matapédia in ...

(SCFG) except for a section of the Cascapedia Subdivision east of the wye at Matapédia. Ownership of this section of line and the wye were transferred to CFMG.

2008 infrastructure program

On 1 February 2008,

reached an agreement with the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

and Government of Quebec for $14.6 million in funding for infrastructure improvements on the railway lines between Rivière-du-Loup to Matapédia as well as Mont-Joli to Matane. This announcement was made by

Lawrence Cannon Lawrence Cannon, (born December 6, 1947) is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. In early 2006, he was made the Minister of Transport. On October 30, 2008, he relinquished oversight of ...

, federal

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

, and Nathalie Normandeau, Deputy Premier and provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs as well as regional minister for Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, and

Claude Béchard Claude Béchard (June 29, 1969 – September 7, 2010) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Quebec Liberal Party Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the riding of Kamouraska-Témiscouata in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region; as ...

, provincial Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife as well as regional minister for

Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower Saint-Lawrence), is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river widens at this place, later becoming a bay that discharges into the Atlanti ...

. It would see a combined investment by the two levels of government of $9.7 million ($5.8 million from the federal government, $3.8 million from the provincial government) over a five-year period with additional funding of $5 million from Quebec Railway Corporation. This funding was targeted at improving track and bridge infrastructure to allow CFMG to carry heavier freight railway cars. It was predicted that the investment would lead to additional spin-off investments of $75 million for railway customers which are predominantly focused on wood products, paper, pulp, particle boards, iron or, and aluminum.

2008 sale to CN

On 3 November 2008 CN announced that it was purchasing the

(NBEC) and its sister companies Chemin de fer de la Matapédia et du Golfe (CFMG),

(COGEMA), and the

Ottawa Central Railway The Ottawa Central Railway was a Canadian short-line railroad subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway. The headquarters were at the Walkley Yard, 3141 Albion Road South, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OCRR was a wholly owned subsidiary of th ...

(OCRR) for $49.8 million (CAD) from the Quebec Railway Corporation. CN said that it planned to change little in the operations of the acquired lines, although the railroad said it intended to invest capital to upgrade the track it acquired, as well as replacing the locomotives with newer motive power.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemin De Fer De La Matapedia Et Du Golfe Quebec railways Rail transport in Campbellton, New Brunswick Rail transport in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine Rail transport in Bas-Saint-Laurent