Trudeau announces high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the development of a high-speed rail network that is slated to connect Toronto with Quebec.

According to the statement, the rail network – dubbed ‘Alto’ – will span approximately 1,000 km and have stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivieres and Quebec City.

Reaching up to 300 km/hour, Alto is expected to slash travel times in half. According to the government, a trip from Toronto to Montreal would take only three hours.

“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.” Trudeau said in a statement.

The project is being co-developed with Cadence, a consortium of businesses with experience designing, developing and operating large-scale transportation infrastructure. Members include CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRealis, Keolis, SYSTRA, Air Canada and SNCF Voyageurs.

According to a government statement, Canada’s investment in the co-development phase represents $3.9 billion over six years in addition to $371.8 million that was provided in Budget 2024.

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