Ontario could soon get trains that travel at a staggering 300 km/h

The dream of high-speed rail in Canada could be a reality amid reports that the federal government is preparing to announce a game-changing infrastructure project that could see trains zip between Toronto and Quebec City at speeds of 300 kilometres per hour.

Details of the project unearthed in a report by CBC Radio-Canada suggest that the new line will be announced in the coming weeks.

Plans were already in motion for a controversial “high-frequency rail” project that would see trains travel at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour on certain stretches of the Toronto-Quebec City rail corridor. 

However, that plan appears to have been scrapped, with sources now telling Radio-Canada that the Trudeau government has instead opted to pursue a true high-speed rail line on the densely populated corridor, home to over 18 million Canadians — almost half of the country’s population.

Unlike the high-frequency rail plan proposed in 2021, which would have run largely along existing tracks, the high-speed rail line reported to have replaced it would instead run on an entirely new electrified track and offer frequent service of trains operating at the highest velocities on the continent.

Stops along the line are reported to include Toronto, Ottawa, Laval, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, and Quebec City, with speeds equaling roughly double VIA’s current train service to these locations.

A winning bidder for the line has already been selected, according to Radio-Canada, though the outlet states that contracts are still being finalized, a process which could take several months.

As for the cost of the project, Transport Canada had initially estimated that the price tag for a line connecting Toronto and Quebec City could soar to an astronomical $80 billion, which would place the line among the most expensive infrastructure projects in Canadian history.

It would also be an important first for Canada, connecting the country’s most populous region and joining a very exclusive list of high-speed rail projects in North America.

Currently, the only thing resembling a true high-speed rail line in North America is Amtrak’s Acela, which serves the operator’s Northeast Corridor at speeds of up to 240 km/h — still well short of the reported top speed of the new line coming to the Toronto-Quebec corridor.

Other lines that advertise as high-speed services, like the Brightline route in Florida, top out at 200 km/h, and are more closely related to VIA’s 2021-proposed High Frequency Rail than the high-speed lines operating in Europe and Asia.

While 300 km/h is indeed faster than any train line on the continent as of 2024, new high-speed lines serving California and Nevada are expected to enter service with similarly fast trains in 2030 and 2028.