Ottawa-Montreal first up for high-speed rail link, but money could be better spent, expert says

Ottawa and Montreal will be the first major cities in the country connected by high-speed rail, the federal government announced Friday.

Transport Minster Steven MacKinnon revealed that the Ottawa-Montreal corridor would be the first phase of a high-speed train project, with construction expected to begin within about four years. As part of the project, a station would be built in Laval. The project would shorten the two-hour trip by about half, according to current estimates.

The corridor represents about 25 per cent of the total length of track needed to build the entire Toronto-to-Quebec City network. While no official cost determinations have yet been made by the consortium picked to lead the project, estimates peg the entire project at $80 billion, which includes the purchase of rolling stock.

“We are talking about a generational investment that will shape the Canadian economy for decades to come and have lasting benefits,” MacKinnon said at the announcement made in Ottawa on Friday.

He added that the train is electric, so it will be the equivalent of removing 100,000 cars off the road per year. The project aims to have trains run on dedicated tracks at a speed of between 300 and 350 kilometres per hour.

The project is being led by Alto, a wholly owned subsidiary of Via Rail. Alto CEO Martin Imbleau said the Ottawa-Montreal segment was chosen because it is relatively short and is flat and in a mostly straight line. The group will now conduct consultations and examine the entire corridor with a goal to begin construction on the first phase in 2029. Imbleau said the rest of the corridor, which includes stops in Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City and Peterborough, will begin construction shortly afterward.

There are many challenges facing the project. Among them are placement of stations in downtown cores. In Montreal, for example, it isn’t clear how the tracks will reach the downtown area since the corridor that will be chosen will force the train to come onto the island from the North Shore. The only track linking the North Shore with the downtown area is used by the REM light-rail network.

Speaking to The Gazette on Friday, Matti Siemiatycki, a professor and the director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto, said there isn’t a lot of federal money being invested in transit right now, and the money could be better spent on other projects in cities across the country.

“I have questions about whether this is the highest priority for Canada given our vast needs both in terms of transit and everything else, like health care, Indigenous drinking water, national defence and affordable housing,” he said. “As much as we are excited about high-speed rail, we should be asking: ‘Is this the best way for this money to be spent?'”

Siemiatycki pointed out that there is no business case for the project, so it’s impossible to know how much fares will cost, how many people are likely to take the new train and how much in federal subsidies will be needed to keep the trips affordable for the average Canadians.

He made a rough list of projects that could be done for the same amount of money: After spending $10 billion to provide clean drinking water to Indigenous communities, there would be enough money for the east-end tramway project in Montreal, a subway line in Vancouver to UBC, the Eglinton East LRT in Toronto, the Calgary Green Line and the Quebec City tramway — with $14 billion left over for a maintenance fund for existing public transit.

“When you put that in context, that’s how you have to compare this,” Siemiatycki said. “In a context of scarce resources, to put it into this project raises questions. We should at least be conducting a business case to make sure this is the best way to spend this money.”

A survey by the school of Transportation Research at McGill has estimated train ridership would be 10 million to 20 million trips per year, and the project would pay for itself in about 44 years.

Although the ridership numbers may sound impressive, Siemiatycki said they are dwarfed by the Montreal métro’s ridership in a matter of days.

He said the good news is that the first corridor chosen is short and relatively easy to build because other high-speed rail projects have been abandoned before completion. If that happens with this project, at least there will be two major cities connected. He added that this would undoubtedly lead to economic benefits.

“There is evidence of agglomeration economies, whereby cities that are closer together do more trade, and that creates more opportunity for economic activity,” he said.

He added that there are also benefits for tourism within the cities that are linked.

jmagder@postmedia.com

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