Toronto-Quebec City high-frequency rail project faces delays, uncertainty

Plans for a high-speed train linking Toronto and Quebec City might be going off the rails.

The highly-anticipated High Frequency Rail (HFR), announced by the Liberal government almost four years ago, faces an uncertain future due to pushed-back timelines and the prospect of a federal election this fall.

According to the Canadian Press, insiders worry that the new rail corridor could be thrown into limbo – or scrapped altogether – with a potential change in government coming up following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s planned resignation

“Any change of government will almost certainly lead to a process of reconsideration of everything the previous government has done before, either confirming it or changing it in some way,” Terry Johnson, president of passenger advocacy group Transport Action Canada, told CP in a recent interview.

READ MORE: Is Trudeau’s resignation a good thing for the travel industry?

The train has been pitched as a future option that could transport passengers from Toronto to Montreal in three hours or less (by comparison, it takes about five-and-a-half hours to travel between the two cities by car). It’s also a far shorter ride than VIA Rail’s current trip.

In Ontario, the line would include stops in Peterborough and Ottawa. In Quebec, it would stop in Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City. 

In 2021, when the rail corridor was announced, Ottawa pegged the cost at between $6 billion and $12 billion.

But already, the megaproject has faced disruptions. Late last year, the federal government requested an extension on bids to build the railway in a move that could push back selection of a private partner by months – beyond the initial deadline near the end of 2024.

Selecting a consortium to oversee the project is key. The Transport Department had said the winning contractor, which would design, build and operate/maintain the tracks, was initially set to be revealed by fall of 2024.

The three consortia selected to submit proposals are: Cadence, which includes AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) and Air Canada; Intercity Rail Developers, which includes Montreal billionaire André Desmarais’s DF Canada Infrastructure Group Inc.; and QConnexiON Rail Partners, which includes WSP Canada.

The request for proposals asked each of the three groups for a pair of bids: one for a rail network where trains would top out at 200 km/h (the current limit is about 160 km/h) and one for a high-speed rail corridor.

READ MORE: Is Air Canada trying to take over VIA Rail? Advocates raise concerns

Transport Minister Anita Anand says proposal extensions are “standard,” with the possibility included in the request for proposals.

“No contract has been awarded to a consortium for the rail project on the Quebec-Toronto corridor. I look forward to sharing more when the time comes,” Anand told CP in an emailed statement.

The proposal process has also generated some controversy.

Last year, Transport Action Canada, which advocates for passengers and sustainable transport, expressed discomfort over Air Canada’s involvement in the bidding process, saying it raises questions about conflict of interest, competition and transparency.

“If Cadence is selected as the winning consortium and becomes the ‘Private Development Partner’ for High Frequency Rail by the end of the year, a multi-decade operating concession for all of VIA Rail’s current Quebec-Windsor corridor train services and the new HFR services would be in the hands of Air Canada and its partners, with the handover to the private sector happening some time during the multi-year co-development period,” wrote the organization in a blog post on Aug. 6, 2024.

On joining the Cadence HFR bid, Air Canada said it “will enable the airline to contribute to the harmonious integration of a future intercity rail network with existing airport hubs in the Quebec-Windsor corridor.”

Transport Action Canada questions if Air Canada joining the HFR procurement is even necessary.

“Implementing connections between a commercial airline and a publicly-owned passenger railway is relatively straightforward, as evidenced by progress in Europe, and VIA Rail’s recently modernized reservation system uses European software that has excellent support for doing so,” the group writes.

“There are also immediate needs for improved VIA Rail services to replace short-haul routes that Air Canada has previously cut like Kingston and Sarnia.”

VIA Rail Canada first proposed the High Frequency Rail (HFR) project in 2015. It was later taken over by the government, which announced in 2019 it would spend $71 million to study the project.

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.