Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press conference in Montreal on Feb. 19.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
The federal government has selected a team to design a high-speed rail link running from Quebec City to Toronto, but the start of construction of what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history is still at least five years off, depends on support from a future government and carries an estimated total price tag of between $60-billion and $90-billion.
Mr. Trudeau said the project will boost economic growth and support the country’s steel, aluminum and copper industries at a time when Canadian resource sectors are facing tariff threats from the United States.
He also said the line will allow trains to reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour and dramatically improve travel times between major centres in Quebec and Ontario.
“A reliable, efficient, high-speed rail network will be a game changer for Canadians,” he said at an event in Montreal. “It will stimulate our economy, strengthen the bonds between cities and our two most populous provinces, and reduce costs for businesses while improving their productivity and competitiveness.”
Wednesday’s announcement of $3.9-billion for a five-year planning phase is the latest step in a long-running debate over whether to green light high-speed rail in Canada. Via Rail has been proposing a similar high-speed rail corridor since as far back as 1984 and the Trudeau government has been studying Via’s originally more modest high-frequency rail plan since 2016.
Three preselected consortiums submitted private bids last year outlining their plans to build and operate the proposed new passenger rail line. Each of the three bids was required by Ottawa to present two options: one using traditional passenger trains and a second option that includes at least some high-speed rail segments.
Ottawa has now selected a group called Cadence to move ahead on a “co-development phase” for a fully electrified high-speed rail line covering the roughly 1,000 kilometres of east-west track. The $3.9-billion over five years is for design and planning work, including consultations with communities along the line. That is in addition to $371.8-million in funding announced in the 2024 budget.
After the co-development phase, the project will move on to a construction phase. The government did not announce an estimated cost or timeline for the entire project.
Great high-speed rail, Ottawa. Let’s make sure we can actually build it
However, Martin Imbleau, chief executive of the Crown corporation that is responsible for working with the consortium to manage the project, provided a rough cost estimate to The Globe and Mail in an interview.
“We have a working assumption,” he said. “I’m not committing to this. It’s not a budget. The working assumption is between $60-billion and $90-billion.”
Mr. Imbleau said some of those costs could be covered by outside investors. Part of the planning phase will look at how that could work.
“Sixty to ninety [billion] is the project cost. It’s not Canadians’ equity,” he said. “What will be Canadians’ equity and the private equity remains to be decided.”
Transport Minister Anita Anand said more study is needed before a price tag can be determined.
“It is too early and impudent to provide a cost estimate,” she said in an interview.
She did say the consortium will be responsible for funding some of the project’s costs.
“It won’t just be the Canadian taxpayer that is going to fund this entire project. The risks and costs therefore will be apportioned,” she said.
The line will include stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.
The Cadence group includes CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure division of Quebec’s pension fund; AtkinsRéalis, the new name for SNC-Lavalin; Air Canada; Keolis; SYSTRA; and SNCF Voyageurs, a major French provider of high-speed rail services in Europe.
Jean-Marc Arbaud, president and chief executive of CDPQ Infra, said in a statement that the members of Cadence look forward to working together on the design of the network.
“This landmark project is set to revolutionize mobility in Canada for future generations,” he said.
Ian Edwards, president and chief executive of AtkinsRéalis, told BNN Bloomberg that a successful project requires taking time to plan properly.
“I know the cost of these projects. A lot of it is won and made efficient through the design phase. That’s why I truly believe the more that goes into the planning phase, the more successful the contract will be,” he said.
The plan had previously been called high-frequency rail as no decision had been made to proceed with the fully high-speed option. On Wednesday, the government referred to the project by a new name, calling it Alto.
Further details were posted Wednesday on the Alto project website.
It states that following the five-year development phase, the plan is to build the network in segments, with the construction of each phase taking between five and seven years.
Justin Trudeau’s unreal rail plan
Once fully built, the project promises to reduce travel times between Toronto and Montreal to three hours and seven minutes, down from 5½ hours. Travel times between Montreal and Ottawa would be cut in half to just under an hour. The Toronto-Ottawa trip would take two hours and nine minutes, down from the current four hours and 26 minutes, while the Montreal-Quebec City route would take an hour and 29 minutes, down from three hours and 17 minutes.
Current Via Rail travel times can often take much longer than expected because of delays. Via does not own most of the track in the corridor. The primary owner is Canadian National Railway Co., which gives priority to slower-moving freight traffic. Via has long said that the status quo prevents it from offering more frequent and reliable service.
High-speed rail is more costly to build than traditional passenger rail because it generally involves constructing exclusive corridors that do not intersect at ground level with vehicle traffic. That means the project will necessitate the construction of many bridges along the route.
The government has not yet announced the location of stations. There has been debate over the years over whether the line should include downtown stops – such as Montreal’s Central Station – or simply link with a local transit line that would then take travellers downtown.
Mr. Trudeau made the announcement with Parliament currently prorogued until March 24, to allow time for the Liberal Party to hold a leadership campaign to replace him. The new leader will be announced on March 9.
Mark Carney – who is leading the Liberal leadership race in terms of fundraising and high-profile endorsements – praised the project, while also pointing out that it will require further approvals by a future government.
“I certainly will occupy myself directly with this as appropriate to ensure that the project going ahead benefits all Canadians as much as possible,” he told reporters Wednesday in reference to how he would handle the file should he become prime minister.
Former Liberal finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also running for the Liberal leadership, told reporters in Quebec on Wednesday that the plan is an investment in Canada’s economy.
“I think it’s a great project,” she said.
NDP MP and transport critic Taylor Bachrach said the project should be built, but not as a public-private partnership model that he said will drive up costs.
Conservative MP and transport critic Philip Lawrence dismissed the announcement as a “$5-billion photo-op,” including previously announced funds, that shows the Liberals constantly fail to deliver on promises.
“The Liberals had nine years to make progress on high-speed rail, and all they can point to is money spent on high-priced consultants,” he said in a statement that did not specify definitely whether a Conservative government would support or reject the project.