Change of Maintenance on Chaleur Line

Former NBEC 1849 at the Temrex mill in Nouvelle Ouest, Quebec

le Soleil is reporting that RailTerm will take over maintenance and operation of the Gaspe rail line from CN in April 2010.

The Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie (SCFG) owns the rail lines from Matapedia to Gaspé. The SCFG subcontracted maintenance and operation of the line to the Quebec Railway Corporation, and thence to CN when the QRC was purchased in November 2008. Once RailTerm takes over, CN will continue supplying cars and billing customers, but will not be responsible for operation and maintenance of the line.

The two major sources of income for SCFG are the Temrex mill in Nouvelle Ouest, and VIA Rail. The SCFG is hoping to get some traffic from the wind farm being built near Gaspé. They expect to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year under the new contract.