The east-west former Intercolonial Railway mainline from Halifax to Rivière-du-Loup is joined from the east by a line running along the south coast of the Gaspé Peninsula 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.

Service to Gaspé was interrupted in 2013 and has not resumed[1] however there have been recent attempts to resuscitate it.

[2][3] 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 and the Montreal – Gaspé train proceeded to Gaspé.