Matapédia station is a Via Rail station in

Matapédia, Quebec Matapédia (former name: Saint-Laurent-de-Matapédia) is a municipality at the southern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, in eastern Quebec, Canada. Matapédia is located along Quebec Route 132 on the border of New Brunswick. In addition to Matapédi ...

, Canada. Matapédia is the junction between two rail lines. The east-west 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 from Halifax to Rivière-du-Loup is joined from the east by a line running along the south coast of the

Gaspé Peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick o ...

to the town of Gaspé. As a result, Matapédia was where two Via Rail routes diverged en route to their eastern termini, whereas they converged when heading westbound. The 6 day/week Halifax-Montreal ''

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

'' and 3 day/week

Montreal – Gaspé train 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-p ...

operated as one train between Matapédia and Montreal in the winter time when each separate train has fewer cars. Since the 2004 introduction of Renaissance cars (the former Nightstar trains from the UK) on the ''Ocean'' both trains operated separately between Matapédia and Montreal during the summer when each train was longer. Service to Gaspé was interrupted in 2013 and has not resumed however there have been recent attempts to resuscitate it. When operating separately, the Montreal – Gaspé train ran several minutes ahead of the ''Ocean'' toward Montreal. When combined, the trains ran together as far as Matapédia before the ''Ocean'' continued to

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. The ...

and the Montreal – Gaspé train proceeded to Gaspé. The

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 ...

station is a designated Heritage Railway Station,Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada: "List of Designated Heritage Railway Stations: Quebec"
under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act.

References

External links

*
Via Rail page for the OceanVia Rail page for the Montreal – Gaspé train
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matapedia railway station Via Rail stations in Quebec Designated heritage railway stations in Quebec Railway stations in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine