The historic steam-powered train that takes tourists on excursions in western Quebec is for sale, the owner has announced.

André Guibord, a spokesman for Jean Gauthier, owner of Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Steam Train Company, made the announcement Friday.

It followed a joint meeting between Gauthier; Benoît Pelletier, the Quebec minister responsible for the Outaouais; and Compagnie de chemin de fer de l'Outaouais (CCFO), which owns the railway used by the train and is run by municipalities in the region.

The meeting comes more than a week after the train was temporarily shut down because of a landslide near its tracks, but the situation has a long history, Guibord said.

"It's been boiling over for a few years," he said, noting that a study is underway on some culverts beneath the railbed.

The steam train company would be responsible for paying for any work needed as a result of the study.

"The engineer, he started listing corrections that he wanted done to the infrastructure and I think Mr. Gauthier decided he's had enough."

The decision means the train likely won't be carrying any more tourists this season, Guibord added.

"That's not to say the train won't run again, but someone else will have to take care of it," he told CBC's French-language service Radio-Canada in French.

Guibord said the decision was made for both business and personal reasons after the owner of the company, Gauthier was unable to amend the contract he signed several months ago with local municipalities, which own the railway used by the train.

The proposed amendments concerned costs related to a series of studies to determine whether the railbed is safe.

Guibord said there is now a deep lack of trust between the municipalities and the train company.

According to Guibord, the train must be offered first to the CCFO, ahead of any other potential buyers, and the CCFO could choose to run the train itself.

Two other parties, one in the region and one outside the region, have expressed interest in the train, which is worth an estimated $2.5 million.

Jean Perras, the chair of the CCFO, said he wants to keep the train in the region, and will discuss the possibilities with businesses and different levels of government.

The Wakefield steam engine was built in Sweden in 1907. It was brought to Canada by a public-private consortium that began running train excursions for tourists in 1992. The train was bought by a private company in 1994. It operates between May and October.

Engineers discovered the top of a landslide about 10 metres from the train's track near the border between the municipalities of Chelsea and Gatineau earlier in May.

The train was shut down while engineers evaluated the stability of the rail bed and surrounding soil. Their report has not yet come out. However, earlier this week, Transport Quebec inspectors said the rails themselves were stable.