BELLEVILLE, ONT. -- Protesters halted train travel along two of VIA Rail's busiest Ontario routes Sunday as they continued to demonstrate against a natural gas pipeline project in British Columbia.

VIA Rail says 18 of its trains were cancelled Sunday, affecting service between Toronto and Montreal, as well as Toronto and Ottawa in both directions.

Canadian National Railway traffic was also blocked along the corridor east of Toronto.

The blockade took over the tracks Thursday night in solidarity with demonstrators in northwest B.C. where Indigenous people and supporters are protesting the construction of a pipeline that crosses Wet'suwet'en territory.

FEBRUARY 9: Due to the protesters currently blocking tracks near Belleville, Ontario, train service between Montreal and Toronto and between Ottawa and Toronto is affected in both directions. See https://t.co/HAPXhFBRbH for a list of cancellations. — VIA_Rail (@VIA_Rail) February 8, 2020

RCMP officers there have been arresting people for breaching a court injunction related to opposition to the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline.

CN says it has been granted an injunction order to remove protesters from the site near Belleville, Ont.

Ontario provincial police say they're continuing to monitor the demonstration.

On Saturday, more protesters in Toronto disrupted Canadian Pacific Railway traffic downtown and momentarily blocked GO Transit trains on the Barrie line.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2020.