Canada’s long-planned high-speed rail network will begin with a line linking Montreal and Ottawa, Radio-Canada has learned.
Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon is expected to formally announce the decision Friday alongside Martin Imbleau, CEO of Alto, the Crown corporation overseeing the project. While the exact route has not yet been finalized, public consultations are set to begin in January, and officials have confirmed the line will include a stop in Laval, Que.
Construction on the Montreal–Ottawa segment, spanning roughly 200 kilometres, is scheduled to begin in 2029. Sources say the corridor was chosen because it is the shortest and flattest portion of the proposed network and because it crosses a provincial boundary, making it a symbolic and practical starting point.
The remaining sections — Quebec City to Montreal and Ottawa to Toronto — will be built later, though environmental assessments and consultations for those legs are expected to begin well before the first phase is completed. Expropriations of land are anticipated as part of the process.
Timelines for passenger service remain uncertain. Sources suggest each segment of the network could take seven to eight years to build once construction begins.
The high-speed rail project, estimated to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion, was initially launched under the Trudeau government and has since become a cornerstone of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s infrastructure agenda. Once completed, the network aims to reduce travel time between Montreal and Toronto to about three hours, down from five hours or more, while trips between Montreal and Quebec City would take roughly 90 minutes.
The project is being managed by Alto, with construction awarded to the Cadence consortium, which includes CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRéalis, Air Canada and French rail operator SNCF Voyageurs.
The announcement comes amid renewed scrutiny of Canada’s rail system, just a day after Via Rail passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa were stranded overnight following a mechanical failure near Brockville, Ont.
