The Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs (in English, the Chaleur Bay 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 Government of Canada, 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 ...

from 1996 to 2007. 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), CBC operated freight service between Matapédia in the west to

Chandler Chandler or The Chandler may refer to: * Chandler (occupation), originally head of the medieval household office responsible for candles, now a person who makes or sells candles * Ship chandler, a dealer in supplies or equipment for ships Arts ...

and later Gaspé in the east.

1996 establishment

The Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs was established on 1 December 1996 as a subsidiary of QRC to operate 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) Cascapedia Subdivision between Matapédia and New Carlisle as well as the western half of the Chandler Subdivision between New Carlisle and

. This transaction did not include the eastern half of the Chandler Subdivision between Chandler and Gaspé, however, this track was purchased on 16 June 1997 from CN by a non-profit corporation owned by local municipalities called

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). Operation of the eastern half of the Chandler Subdivision was then sub-contracted by SCFG to CBC, creating a seamless line between Matapédia in the west and Gaspé in the east.

2007 sale to SCFG

In 2007 QRC sold the remainder of CBC's Matapédia to Chandler line to the SCFG which was owned by local municipalities. The SCFG track ownership begins east of the wye in Matapédia. This small connecting section remained in QRC ownership and was transferred to its subsidiary Chemin de fer de la Matapédia et du Golfe (CFMG). CFMG was sub-contracted to provide freight service for SCFG. In November 2008 CFMG was sold to CN.

References

{{Canada railways Quebec railways Gaspé Peninsula Rail transport in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine