Touring the Gaspésie by train will soon become possible. The last contracts are being awarded for the rehabilitation of the rail linking Gaspé to Chaleur Bay. Everything is therefore ready for an opening in 2026… unless the sea decides otherwise.
Some 320 km of rail. Nine hundred culverts. Ninety-three bridge structures. Nearly a billion dollars in public funds. The finish line finally appears for the restoration of the railway in Gaspésie. The last calls for tenders are finally out, for the last section, that is, that between the Port-Daniel cement plant and Gaspé. The first of these latest tenders closed on Thursday, with the rest expected to follow shortly.
All the rehabilitation contracts for this railway built at the end of the 1800s and which fell into disuse at the end of the 1960s will then be concluded.
Embezzlement at the time of its construction caused a scandal and the fall of Honoré Mercier’s government in 1891. But estimates of its rehabilitation in the 21ste century remain in prices for the moment. “I have no choice but to say that things are going well,” says Éric Dubé, president of the Société de chemin de fer de la Gaspésie, the manager and operator of the circuit.
The latest calls for tenders were even won “a little below” the ministry’s estimates, according to the man who is also mayor of New Richmond and who closely monitors Quebec in its financial management. “We are pleasantly surprised. »
A first section, linking the Port-Daniel cement plant to the Baie des Chaleurs, must be inaugurated this fall, at the end of the summer season. Since this railway will primarily be used to transport goods, approximately 60 cement trucks per week will then be removed from traffic on Route 132. The trains must travel at an average speed of 50 km/h.
Huge construction sites
This is the “structuring project of Gaspésie”, people there like to say. “Some people think it’s a big investment for Gaspésie. But if we hadn’t invested [cet argent] in Gaspésie, if it had been placed on a third link, on a tramway, it would have covered less distance. For once, Gaspésie can benefit from these investments,” notes the mayor of the municipality of Saint-Siméon, Denis Gauthier.
He remembers his youth in disused train stations, and the ancestors who told how soldiers went to war by train. The next few years promise to be full of hope, although for the moment it is a time of upheaval.
His small town on Chaleur Bay was turned upside down by the arrival of construction sites. Huge mounds of earth have invaded coastal areas. And its businesses were almost emptied by workers who came to rebuild the multiple bridges. These are “titanic works” that are being carried out near him, he says. “For just one of the points, they built almost two roads to get there. »
Despite the scale of the engineering challenges awaiting the teams, the elected official says he is as certain as his colleague from New Richmond that goods will soon be moving on the rails rather than on the asphalt. But that wasn’t the case just a few years ago: “It would have taken nothing for the rails to be rolled up and sent to China to be melted down and the iron recovered.” It’s a way of speaking, but it came very close. »
The sea, the Achilles heel
Little train should go far, then, unless the sea derails it. The ocean is the real Achilles heel of this railway which runs along the coast, with increasingly strong storms threatening the rails. About 25 kilometers are close enough to the sea to be considered at risk of erosion by specialists. In Saint-Omer, the railway is located directly on the edge of the cliff.
The route therefore had to be diverted inland in certain places. Near Port-Daniel, for example, the ground gave way under the rail during a storm surge last summer.
As is the case for route 132, which also risks being eaten away by the sea, teams will compensate for any damage on the railway under reconstruction. “Every time there is a storm, like last week, there are rocks that come away. The sea picks it up, but the next day, we’ll put back new rocks. We maintain it because we have the budgets to do that. Next spring, we’re going to go repair,” says Éric Dubé.
The total cost of maintaining a rail constantly battered by waves remains vague.
The return of passenger trains?
Passengers stopped traveling on the rails linking Matapedia and Gaspé in 2013, and the stations that still line the route recall that not-so-distant era when one could visit the region without touching a steering wheel. And although VIA Rail has not confirmed whether its service will resume in the region, everything will be in place for such a restart, promises the Société de chemin de fer de la Gaspésie. The stations will be renovated, and the repair of the railway bridges will allow the circulation of passenger cars.
Reliability must, however, be there, says the president of the Gaspé company, Éric Dubé, who has not forgotten the years when too many journeys ended by bus. “If, in the first week, you have to cancel one trip, and then the next week you cancel another, people will say that we have regained what we lost, but that It didn’t do anything…”
Meetings on the return of passenger rail transport are planned for this spring. “I want to get into the first car that will leave New Richmond for Gaspé,” the elected official announces enthusiastically. All that remains is for Gaspésiens and Quebecers to also embark on the adventure.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.