The Carney government is introducing legislation that would significantly accelerate the development of the planned high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, granting the Crown corporation leading the project expanded authority over land acquisition and project approvals.
The proposed High-Speed Rail Network Act, included within the government’s 2025 budget implementation bill, would give Alto—the federal Crown corporation overseeing the rail initiative—broad new powers to acquire or expropriate land along the 1,000-kilometre corridor. The act would also effectively bypass one of the major regulatory hurdles for major infrastructure projects by excluding the high-speed rail line from review by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). Under the bill, the project would be deemed approved, and the CTA would be explicitly barred from reversing that approval.
In addition, the legislation outlines a new approach to federal oversight, allowing the rail corridor to be broken into segments of up to 50 kilometres, each of which would undergo a separate review and approval process. Government officials say this approach is designed to streamline assessment timelines and reduce bureaucratic delays.
The proposed act marks the clearest indication yet of how Prime Minister Mark Carney intends to accelerate construction of major infrastructure projects. The high-speed rail corridor—estimated to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion—has been designated a “transformative project” under the newly established Major Projects Office. Earlier this year, the government committed to reducing the pre-construction phase from eight years to five.
Alto has said the new electric high-speed line will allow trains to operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h, cutting travel times between major cities in half compared to current Via Rail service.
Ordinarily, a project of this scale would require assessments from both the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency. But the legislation signals the government’s intent to overhaul the process in order to speed up construction and meet its commitments on major infrastructure delivery.
Further details on how the segmented review system will work are expected as the bill moves through Parliament.
