Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra, and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez, shake hands on the rail platform outside Central Station prior to a press conference in Montreal, Thursday, July 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
MONTREAL – The federal government is slowing the timeline on a faster passenger railway set to stretch from Toronto to Quebec City.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he hopes the high-frequency rail line will be running by the mid-2030s – rather than the early 2030s, which he projected as recently as March.
At a press conference Thursday, Alghabra announced a request for proposals from three consortiums that had made it onto a shortlist.
While the minister has previously pegged the likely cost at between $6 billion and $12 billion, he declined to put a rough price tag on the undertaking today, stating that the government will first have to assess the proposals.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the Liberals’ Quebec lieutenant, says a fully high-speed rail corridor – called for by some politicians in that province – that hits peaks of up to 300 km/h is not feasible, given the number of stops the trains will make.
The passenger cars are expected to pass through Montreal, Trois-Rivières and other Quebec and Ontario municipalities that sit between Toronto and Quebec City, running at up to 200 km/h.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2023.
