The Canadian Department of Transport recently announced that it has selected the route from the capital Ottawa to the second largest city Montreal as the first section of Canada's first high-speed rail network, and this highly anticipated Alto high-speed rail project is moving from blueprint to reality.

The initial section of the project is about 200 kilometers long and is expected to officially start construction in 2029. The related preliminary procurement will be launched in 2026. The overall plan for the Alto high-speed rail network connects Toronto to Quebec City, with a total length of approximately 1000 kilometers and a designed maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour. After completion, the travel time from Toronto to Montreal will be reduced by half, expected to be shortened to about three hours. As the only country among the seven major industrialized nations without a high-speed railway, the Aalto project will fill Canada's long-standing gap in modern transportation.

Break through from the core of the corridor

The Canadian government's decision to first construct the Ottawa to Montreal section is based on strategic considerations of regional synergy and effectiveness. This choice allows the engineering teams in Ontario and Quebec to simultaneously initiate preliminary work, enabling communities along the route to benefit from the project benefits earlier and accumulate valuable experience for future extensions to Toronto and Quebec City.

The Toronto Quebec City corridor that this project focuses on is the economic heartland of Canada, with a population of approximately 18 million, accounting for nearly half of the country's total population and 40% of the country's total economy. The high-speed rail connecting this corridor is considered one of the largest infrastructure investment projects in decades, expected to create 51000 jobs during construction and contribute up to CAD 35 billion to Canada's gross domestic product.

Accelerating public-private partnerships

To efficiently promote this mega project, Canada has adopted a public-private partnership model. In February 2025, the Cadence consortium consisting of CDPQ Infra, AtkinsR é alis, and French National Railway Passenger Transport Company was selected to be responsible for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of the project.

Project management has also undergone innovation. The newly established Major Projects Office of the federal government is specifically responsible for reducing red tape and prioritizing the promotion of such national construction projects, which has significantly advanced the project start date from the originally planned mid-2030s to 2029.

The project will launch a three-month public consultation process next month, seeking opinions from indigenous communities, municipal authorities, and the public on the route direction, station location, and environmental impact.

Prioritize domestic supply chain

The Alto project is not only a transportation project, but also seen as a strategic measure to strengthen the national industrial chain. The project clearly adheres to the principles of Canadian manufacturing, Canadian construction, and Canadian operation, and is committed to keeping the maximum value domestically.

The project construction is expected to require hundreds of thousands of tons of steel, including over 4000 kilometers of steel rails, as well as a large number of composite beams and overhead contact line pillars. The project team has stated that they will prioritize local supply as much as possible to strengthen the domestic industrial chain and drive employment. They have called on Canadian steel manufacturers to actively prepare to respond to the bidding. As the Aalto high-speed railway project enters the substantive stage from planning, it carries far more than just shortening the spatial and temporal distance between cities. Keywords: traffic news, international news and information, international news website

This steel artery that runs through the core of Canada's economy heralds the modernization and upgrading of the country's infrastructure, the activation of economic growth momentum, and the deepening of national integration links. When the train accelerates after 2029, it will mark Canada's official entry into the era of high-speed rail, and the economic and social benefits it brings will become a key support for the country's future development.Editor/Cheng Liting