Proposal for High Frequency Rail in the Québec City – Toronto Corridor
Latest Update:
October 31, 2022: Government of Canada advances the procurement process for High Frequency Rail.
March 9, 2022: Government of Canada launches the next phase in the procurement process for High Frequency Rail.
July 21, 2021: Government of Canada to explore opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario.
July 6, 2021: The Government of Canada is taking the first steps in preparing for the procurement process of VIA Rail’s High Frequency Rail project.
August 13, 2021: Cynthia Garneau, President and CEO of VIA Rail, published an op-ed about High Frequency Rail
HFRTHE CHALLENGES
We are currently sharing the tracks we operate on with freight trains who have right-of-way over our passenger trains. This not only impacts our on-time performance due to heavy congestion on the tracks, but it also means that our train schedules and frequencies are dependent on the access we are granted by the infrastructure owners.
In 2019, VIA Rail’s ridership reached over 5 million passengers, its highest annual ridership in the last three decades. This performance came after five consecutive years of growth (between 2014 and 2019), with an overall ridership increase of 32%. However, we are now approaching the limits of our network's potential to serve the growing demand for our sustainable mode of transportation.
THE SOLUTION
High Frequency Rail is VIA Rail Canada’s proposal to transform passenger rail service in Canada. It would create new trains on dedicated tracks between major centres (Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa-Toronto).
New routes would be established by upgrading discontinued and lower density rail infrastructure, as well as building new tracks between Toronto-Peterborough-Ottawa, Ottawa-Dorion-Montréal and Montréal-Trois-Rivières-Québec City.
The High Frequency Rail project would involve separating passenger and freight rail operations, creating more capacity for sustainable transportation for both people and goods, as well as the opportunity to optimize current services along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The proposed HFR network
Potential benefits
With High Frequency Rail, Canadians would enjoy a modern passenger rail service providing a more connected, more sustainable, and more mobile Canada. High Frequency Rail would allow for:
- Connecting new communities to major urban centres;
- More daily departures, including in the communities served on the existing route;
- Shorter trip times;
- Considerably improved on-time performance;
- Substantial economic impact, including the creation of thousands of jobs;
- Significant contribution to the reduction of road congestion and thus, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Potential improvements
By running on dedicated tracks, High Frequency Rail would offer more frequencies while reducing trip times by 25% and improving on-time performance to over 95%.
The dedicated tracks would allow better control over frequencies, speeds, and traffic priorities. For example, trains could travel at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour (124 miles per hour), reducing travel times from Ottawa to Toronto to as low as 3 hours and 15 minutes from current travel times of approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes.
The new High Frequency Rail network would be almost completely electrified to provide Canadians with the sustainable and more environmentally friendly transportation solution they are looking for.
In addition, it would give the flexibility to enhance the capacity of the entire rail network and transform Drummondville and Kingston into regional transportation hubs for trains serving the Montréal - Québec City and Montréal - Toronto routes. Establishing a regional hub in Kingston and Drummondville would improve services through better scheduling adapted to the needs of the surrounding communities, hence contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases and road congestion, and to increased productivity.
and places
How we choose to get there matters
The impact of High Frequency Rail would extend far beyond travel: It would make rail travel a more relevant solution to Canada’s sustainable development and prosperity. High Frequency Rail would expand passenger rail services to more communities while contributing to the reduction of road congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
