Canada to fund rehab of Gaspesie railway link

Infrastructure Canada announced this week that it will spend CA$45.8 million to rehabilitate segments of the Gaspesie railway in Quebec.

The funds will come from the government's Disaster Mitigation and Adaption Fund. The rail link most in need of repair is between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspe, and has not been used since 2015.

Coastal erosion that followed a major storm in December 2016 has made the railway segment worse, Infrastructure Canada officials said in a press release.

The project involves repairing 10 parts of the railway over 79 miles between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspe, as well as reinforcement work. In some locations, the railway will be relocated because of ground movement and shoreline erosion.

The work will help re-establish rail transport to Gaspe. It will also increase the resilience of more than 55,000 Gaspesians against climate-change related erosion and reduce the cost of recovering from such incidents by 100 percent, Infrastructure Canada officials said.