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...there are a lot of "buts."
But: It's $3.9B, for a project that will take at least 10 yrs, and could cost $100B.
But: Political future of the Liberals is up in the air.
But—the biggest "but": This is really announcement of the choice of a consortium, made up of...
https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2025/02/19/canada-getting-high-speed
...Air Canada, CPDQ Infra (Quebec pension fund, which built Montreal's REM), and SNCF (France's rail operator).
In other words, a public-private partnership.
Which raises the question: what happens to VIA Rail, tasked with operating passenger rail across Canada?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rail-toronto-quebec-via-1.7463323
The heavily-used Quebec City-Windsor corridor subsidizes the rest of the passenger rail network.
What's going to happen to VIA trains to Prince Rupert, #Halifax, #Jonquière, if the private sector reaps the profits of the prime route?
That's no reason to stall high-speed in Ontario and Quebec. We should have built it decades ago.
But now is the time to have a conversation about building an equitable national network that benefits all Canadians, and to what extent the private sector will be involved.
@straphanger High speed rail is great. Privatizing public infrastructure is not.
@straphanger A rising tide floats all boats. A lot of the passengers on the new TGV will want to connect with VIA trains, giving VIA more revenue. That said, you are of course correct that there will always be some trains that need a subsidy.
@straphanger Privatising the money-route sounds like a Very Bad Idea... like something *Americans* would do.
Canada's Windsor - Quebec City corridor is analogous to USA's Boston - Washington corridor: Profitable, and popular enough to support high-speed service and support the rest of the system. But unlike most of the rest of the system, Amtrak doesn't need to share the track with freight haulers.
I feel there are lessons for VIA here.
@straphanger I assume the busy VIA corridor is shared with freight carriers? And this new line would mean laying new (exclusive?) track?
The track must be publicly owned (I've long argued that ALL main-line track must be so, but that's another rant), and the trains must be part of the nation-wide system... NOT a separate entity.
NuanceRhymesWithOrange @straphanger And AtkinsRéalis, known as SNC-Lavalin before their bribery scandal.
We'll continue the Canadian tradition of building long rail lines with a heavy serving of money changing hands in unexpected ways.
@straphanger with loss of central station, it is more likely that the Montreal station for the mythical train will either be Parc (CP tracks) or the Côte de Liesse REM station where train de l’est will terminate. As such, Ottawa Montreal is more likely to go on the Genessee & Wyoming north shore of Ottawa river (former cp line) House of Commons committee report admitted train might not serve downtown.
@straphanger pedantic but important: SNCF is NOT part of Cadence. SNCF is. Now a holding. It is SNCF Voyageurs which is part of Cadence. Voyageurs buys and operates trains. No infrastructure experience. SNCF Réseau is the company that has infrastructure experience. Voyageurs, CDPQ , Air Canada and Keolis only have experience running services. SYSTRA *MAY* have consulted on high soeed track construction projects.
@straphanger
I wish Canada was affordable..