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High Speed Rail in Ottawa

hoggytime

hoggytime

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Montreal-Ottawa chosen as first leg of high-speed rail project​

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon expected to make the announcement Friday: Radio-Canada​

CBC News · Posted: Dec 12, 2025 7:28 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour ago


a blurry high-speed train

A TGV high-speed train is pictured in Marseille, southern France. (Claude Paris/The Associated Press)


The first segment of Canada's proposed high-speed rail network will connect Montreal and Ottawa, Radio-Canada has learned.

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon is expected to make the announcement this morning alongside Martin Imbleau, the CEO of Alto, the Crown corporation overseeing the project.

While the exact route hasn't been finalized, public consultations to determine the precise path are set to begin in January. Officials have already confirmed, however, that the line will include a stop in Laval, Que.

Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for 2029.

The decision to start with the 200-kilometre stretch between Montreal and Ottawa comes down to geography, with it being the shortest and flatest section of the proposed corridor, sources told Radio-Canada.

Developers also wanted to launch the project with a segment that straddles the provincial border.

Construction on the remaining segments — connecting Quebec City to Montreal and Ottawa to Toronto — will begin at a later, unspecified date. However, environmental assessments and consultations for those legs would begin well before the first phase is complete.

Expropriations are expected to be part of the process.

It remains unclear when passengers will actually be able to board the first high-speed train. Sources suggest each segment could take seven to eight years to build.

The massive infrastructure project, estimated to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion, was originally launched by the Trudeau government last February. It is now a key plank in the Mark Carney government's infrastructure agenda.

The network aims to cut travel time between Montreal and Toronto to just three hours, down from the current five hours or more. The trip between Montreal and Quebec City would be reduced to approximately 90 minutes.

The announcement comes a day after dozens of Via Rail passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa were stranded for 12 hours overnight, after an earlier train broke down near Brockville, Ont.

The project is being managed by Alto, with construction awarded to the Cadence consortium. That group includes major players such as CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin), Air Canada, and French rail operator SNCF Voyageurs.
 
The plan at one point was to keep "the corridor" as a slow speed rail to serve smaller communities along the Fleuve Saint-Laurent/Lake Ontario. I don't think that's changed.
 
My fear, is that if things have not changed since the original restart in COVID, all passenger rail service within the corridor will be handed off to the private consortium, which deprives VIA of the only thing it makes money on. That lack of revenue just increases the amount of subsidy vs. revenue which makes it easier to argue for further reductions in support of VIA.

I would love for this project to be successful, but I wish the profits from it could be used to expand other rail service in the country rather than floating away into private pockets. We shall see!
 
Katimavid said:
My fear, is that if things have not changed since the original restart in COVID, all passenger rail service within the corridor will be handed off to the private consortium, which deprives VIA of the only thing it makes money on. That lack of revenue just increases the amount of subsidy vs. revenue which makes it easier to argue for further reductions in support of VIA.

I would love for this project to be successful, but I wish the profits from it could be used to expand other rail service in the country rather than floating away into private pockets. We shall see!
Click to expand...
Via needs to get there act in order 12 hours being stuck on the train i am sorry there is no reason for that.
 
Katimavid said:
My fear, is that if things have not changed since the original restart in COVID, all passenger rail service within the corridor will be handed off to the private consortium, which deprives VIA of the only thing it makes money on. That lack of revenue just increases the amount of subsidy vs. revenue which makes it easier to argue for further reductions in support of VIA.

I would love for this project to be successful, but I wish the profits from it could be used to expand other rail service in the country rather than floating away into private pockets. We shall see!
Click to expand...
I understand the concern. HSR will take a lot of passengers away from VIA. Ultimately though, even if it kills VIA (and I hope it dosen't), it will still be a net gain.
I'm fairly confident that on the back of a successful HSR project, the system will be expanded. Going down to Windsor would make the most sense. Calgary-Edmonton. Extending to Halifax might be a bit more of a tough sell due to low density, but in 20-30 years, maybe. Vancouver would be very expensive due to all the tunneling involved, but it's not impossible. Finally we could connect the east and west HSRs.

As for profits going to the private sector, CDPQ Infra, who built the REM is involved. They manage funds for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans in Québec, so ultimately profits return to the public in some form.
jay2028 said:
Via needs to get there act in order 12 hours being stuck on the train i am sorry there is no reason for that.
Click to expand...
I haven't read about the recent issue, but most delays are related to freight rail, the owners of most of the tracks, which is why HFR (which evolved into HSR) was put forward initially.
 
J.OT13 said:
I understand the concern. HSR will take a lot of passengers away from VIA. Ultimately though, even if it kills VIA (and I hope it dosen't), it will still be a net gain.
I'm fairly confident that on the back of a successful HSR project, the system will be expanded. Going down to Windsor would make the most sense. Calgary-Edmonton. Extending to Halifax might be a bit more of a tough sell due to low density, but in 20-30 years, maybe. Vancouver would be very expensive due to all the tunneling involved, but it's not impossible. Finally we could connect the east and west HSRs.

As for profits going to the private sector, CDPQ Infra, who built the REM is involved. They manage funds for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans in Québec, so ultimately profits return to the public in some form.

I haven't read about the recent issue, but most delays are related to freight rail, the owners of most of the tracks, which is why HFR (which evolved into HSR) was put forward initially.
Click to expand...
In this case a train broke down in front of them in the Brockville area 100 people were stuck on the train over night.
 
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