Ottawa is pushing ahead with high-speed rail between Quebec and Toronto

The Trudeau government will announce a high-speed rail (TGV) project linking Quebec and Toronto in the coming weeks, Radio-Canada has learned. A TGV is the first in Canada and is considered an economic revolution by the government and experts.

Project promoters expect the train to carry passengers from Montreal to Toronto in three hours. By car, it takes 5.5 hours to connect the two cities.

According to our sources, the desired speed is 300 kmph. VIA Rail currently doubles the number of trains.

The train will use newly constructed electrified reserved track. His visits are also very frequent. In addition to Quebec, Montreal and Toronto, it should serve Trois-Rivières, Laval, Ottawa and Peterborough.

Open in full screen mode

It will be the Trudeau government announcing the news in the coming weeks, and possibly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself.

The government did not want to verify our information as the contract had not yet been awarded. It could take a few more months until the spring to finalize the deal.

Our Liberal government has an ambitious and transformative plan for Canada's future Federal Minister of Transport, Anita Anand wrote through an email to the office.

The minister announced this at the economic conference held in Toronto on October 16 The federal government will proceed with one of the three submissions received From consortia for rail High frequency and high speed.

Open in full screen mode

This is important because it increases productivity, efficiency, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions and allows more houses to be built along these lines. We are so excited and we can't wait.

According to a source close to the matter, the consortia expected that passenger numbers would have been much lower with the high-frequency train, as users were instead looking for the shortest possible travel time.

Furthermore, VIA TGF, the federal crown corporation created in November 2022 to develop a rail corridor between Quebec and Toronto, should change its name to not only refer to high frequency.

According to a government source, the consortia's work has proven that high-speed rail is an option Much lower than initially expected. Transport Canada initially estimated that a TGV May be up to 80 billion dollars.

It is not known which consortia won the tender. However, since Project Office has all the offerings, each of them can use the best.

The project will be jointly developed by a public project office and a private consortium.

The design of the future high-speed track will take four to five years. Funds for implementation should be allocated at the end of this period.

So it is not excluded that another government may amend or repeal it.

Avoid building more roads and airports

The TGVThat's good news, according to Pierre Barrio, a professor of transportation planning at the University of Montreal and a consultant at the firm GrisOrange.

He guessed Main benefits In the long run, it does Help pay for this project For example by avoiding building more roads and more airports.

We have been building such a project for 150 years. Canada deserves better than high-frequency rail.

The expert also opined that high-frequency train, without high speed, could not be brought Transformation of mobility And customer demand was very low.

Pierre Barrio would not be surprised if the project ends up costing $120 billion.

Open in full screen mode

Countries with less developed economies than Canada already have high-speed trains. Turkey has YHT and Poland, The PKPIt is 250 km per hour. The Al Borak 320 km/h from Morocco. Indonesia has just launched the Whoosh, a 350km/h car.

There is an ongoing project in Brazil TGV And India is in the process of importing the Japanese model Shinkansen.