The first segment of the federal government's proposed high-speed rail project will connect Montreal and Ottawa, the transport minister announced Friday.
Steven MacKinnon said connecting Ontario and Quebec was the "logical" first step for the planned 1,000-kilometre rail network, which would see trains travelling between Toronto and Quebec City at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. Construction is expected to begin in 2029.
"This segment represents a unique opportunity to connect two provinces and quickly generate benefits for travellers, communities, and the economy," MacKinnon told reporters at a press conference in Gatineau, Que.
The high-speed rail project was first announced by then-prime minister Justin Trudeau in February. If completed, it could take passengers from Toronto to Montreal in less than three hours. The trip from Ottawa to Montreal is estimated to take slightly less than an hour.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney announced in September that the government's new major projects office would speed up engineering and regulatory work on the railroad to get construction underway within four years.
MacKinnon said the roughly 200-kilometre stretch between Montreal and Ottawa is "relatively short and straight," and will allow teams in both provinces to start building the expertise needed for the rest of the project. It would include a stop in Laval, Que., an off-island suburb north of Montreal.
Subsequent legs would extend west to Peterborough, Ont. and Toronto, and east to Trois-Rivières, Que. and Quebec City.
The exact route of the rail line has not yet been determined. Alto, the Crown corporation responsible for the project, will launch a three-month consultation process in January 2026, MacKinnon said.
"We are talking about a generational investment that will shape the Canadian economy for decades to come and will create lasting benefits," he said, citing estimates that the project could create more than 50,000 jobs during construction and contribute up to $35 billion to Canada's GDP.
Alto CEO Martin Imbleau declined to say how much the first segment might cost. The corporation estimates the whole project could cost $60 billion to $90 billion.
The federal government has not made a final decision approving funding for the entire rail line. In February, Trudeau announced that Ottawa had awarded a $3.9-billion contract to a consortium called Cadence to design the project.
In a statement Friday, Conservative transport critic Dan Albas said the high-speed project "is not proceeding at anything resembling high speed."
"Today the Liberals are giving themselves a blank cheque for a taxpayer-backed rail line with no price tag that will only benefit Liberal insiders," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2025.
