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High-speed rail in Canada
Several plans have been proposed for high-speed rail in Canada, the only G7 country that does not have any high-speed/higher-speed rail lines. In the press and popular discussion, there have been two routes frequently proposed as suitable for a high-speed rail corridor: Edmonton to Calgary via Red Deer and Windsor to Quebec City via London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Other proposed routes include international high-speed rail links between Montreal and Boston or New York City discussed by regional leaders, though little progress has been made. On April 10, 2008, an advocacy group, High Speed Rail Canada, was formed to promote and educate Canadians on the benefits of high-speed rail in Canada.
On February 19, 2025, the government announced a high-speed rail project in the Toronto–Quebec City corridor with speeds up to 300 to 350 km/h (186 to 217 mph). The name of this service will be Alto.
CN Rail created an initial high-speed rail project with the UAC TurboTrain, in its Toronto–Montreal route during the 1960s. The TurboTrain achieved speeds as high as 201 km/h (125 mph) in regular service. The Turbo went 225 km/h (140 mph) in a speed run April 26, 1976, and may have attained even higher speeds in test runs in 1968–1969.
CN's, and later Via Rail's, TurboTrain service was marred with lengthy interruptions to address design problems and having to cope with poor track quality (accounted for by dual passenger-freight use). As such, the trains were operated at 161 km/h (100 mph). The TurboTrain featured the latest technology advances such as passive coach tilting, Talgo attachment for rigid coach articulation, and gas-turbine power.[citation needed] The units were plagued by technical and reliability issues and were ultimately retired by 1982.
Beginning in the 1970s, a consortium of several companies started to study Bombardier Transportation's LRC, which was a more conventional approach to high-speed rail, in having separate cars and locomotives, rather than being an articulated train. Pulled by heavy conventional-technology diesel-electric locomotives designed for 201 km/h (125 mph) normal operating speed, it entered full-scale service in 1981 for Via Rail, linking cities in the Quebec City–Windsor corridor, but at speeds never exceeding the 161 km/h (100 mph) limit mandated by line signaling. It was the world's first active tilting train in commercial service.[citation needed]
The Calgary–Edmonton corridor is about 300 km (190 mi) long and takes about three hours to traverse by car via the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.
A 2011 update to a 2004 study by the Van Horne Institute concluded that "high-speed rail would bring significant benefits to the Calgary–Edmonton corridor and Alberta as a whole". The report also stated that the project would "generate between $3.7 and $6.1 billion in quantifiable benefits". The study considered three options:
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High-speed rail in Canada
Several plans have been proposed for high-speed rail in Canada, the only G7 country that does not have any high-speed/higher-speed rail lines. In the press and popular discussion, there have been two routes frequently proposed as suitable for a high-speed rail corridor: Edmonton to Calgary via Red Deer and Windsor to Quebec City via London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Other proposed routes include international high-speed rail links between Montreal and Boston or New York City discussed by regional leaders, though little progress has been made. On April 10, 2008, an advocacy group, High Speed Rail Canada, was formed to promote and educate Canadians on the benefits of high-speed rail in Canada.
On February 19, 2025, the government announced a high-speed rail project in the Toronto–Quebec City corridor with speeds up to 300 to 350 km/h (186 to 217 mph). The name of this service will be Alto.
CN Rail created an initial high-speed rail project with the UAC TurboTrain, in its Toronto–Montreal route during the 1960s. The TurboTrain achieved speeds as high as 201 km/h (125 mph) in regular service. The Turbo went 225 km/h (140 mph) in a speed run April 26, 1976, and may have attained even higher speeds in test runs in 1968–1969.
CN's, and later Via Rail's, TurboTrain service was marred with lengthy interruptions to address design problems and having to cope with poor track quality (accounted for by dual passenger-freight use). As such, the trains were operated at 161 km/h (100 mph). The TurboTrain featured the latest technology advances such as passive coach tilting, Talgo attachment for rigid coach articulation, and gas-turbine power.[citation needed] The units were plagued by technical and reliability issues and were ultimately retired by 1982.
Beginning in the 1970s, a consortium of several companies started to study Bombardier Transportation's LRC, which was a more conventional approach to high-speed rail, in having separate cars and locomotives, rather than being an articulated train. Pulled by heavy conventional-technology diesel-electric locomotives designed for 201 km/h (125 mph) normal operating speed, it entered full-scale service in 1981 for Via Rail, linking cities in the Quebec City–Windsor corridor, but at speeds never exceeding the 161 km/h (100 mph) limit mandated by line signaling. It was the world's first active tilting train in commercial service.[citation needed]
The Calgary–Edmonton corridor is about 300 km (190 mi) long and takes about three hours to traverse by car via the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.
A 2011 update to a 2004 study by the Van Horne Institute concluded that "high-speed rail would bring significant benefits to the Calgary–Edmonton corridor and Alberta as a whole". The report also stated that the project would "generate between $3.7 and $6.1 billion in quantifiable benefits". The study considered three options: