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(Photo: © suwatthana / Adobe Stock)
Canada is developing a high-speed rail network. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the selection of a consortium to deliver a transformative rail network that will serve the Toronto to Quebec City corridor.
That corridor is home to 18 million people and represents 40 per cent of Canada’s GDP. Once built, the rail line will span approximately 1,000 km and reach speeds of up to 300 km/hour, with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivieres, and Quebec City. The system is expected to slash current travel times in half, making a trip from Montreal to Toronto just three hours.
The official name of the high-speed rail service will be Alto, and the consortium selected to co-design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the project is Cadence. The Cadence team includes Air Canada, SNCF Voyageurs, CDPQ Infra, SYSTRA Canada, AtkinsRéalis Canada and Keolis Canada. Recognized for their expertise in the design, development and operation of infrastructure and passenger transportation, these organizations were selected due to their extensive knowledge and experience in transportation and infrastructure.
Cadence will collaborate and support Alto as work begins on detailed design, Indigenous consultations, land acquisition, and the environmental assessments necessary to enable construction, reports the Prime Minister’s Office.
As Canada’s largest ever infrastructure project, the PMO says high-speed rail will turbocharge the Canadian economy, boosting GDP by up to $35 billion annually, creating over 51,000 good-paying jobs during construction, and unlocking enhanced productivity, adding that electrified, high-speed rail will also help Canada reduce its emissions and meet its climate targets.
“Canada is getting high-speed rail,” stated Trudeau. “Today’s announcement of Alto, a high-speed rail system between Toronto and Quebec City, will transform our economy – drastically shortening commute times for millions of Canadians, turbocharging economic growth, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, improving productivity, and reducing emissions.”
In November of 2022, the Government of Canada created a Crown corporation, VIA HFR (now Alto), to provide oversight of the project. A procurement process was initiated in 2022, which resulted in three consortiums submitting bid submissions last year. The next step involves Alto and Cadence signing a contract setting out the terms of the co-development phase of the project. Canada has committed $3.9 billion over six years to the co-development phase of the project, starting in 2024-25, in addition to $371.8 million provided in Budget 2024.
“I’m firmly convinced that the way a project is developed is as crucial as the project itself. Which is why we are developing it now, in collaboration with Cadence, relying on the best practices of the industry,” stated Martin Imbleau, president and chief executive officer of Alto. “We have assembled a unique group of talents, combining the know-how of a federal Crown corporation with the experience of a consortium of world-class private partners. Together, we will build a project that will surpass the highest expectations of Canadians.”