The federal government remains convinced that a high-frequency rail (HFR) line is the best option to serve the corridor between Toronto and Quebec City.
However, if private companies can speed up travel times on certain sections, Ottawa will listen.
At a press briefing Friday morning in Montreal, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced the HFR project was entering a new phase: requests for qualification.
Companies can soon submit proposals to participate in constructing the HFR, where trains are expected to run up to 200 km/h between Toronto and Quebec City, passing through Montreal, Trois-Rivières and other Quebec and Ontario municipalities by the early 2030s.
However, since the announcement of the project, many have called for a high-speed rail (HSR) project rather than a high-frequency one.
In particular, the Quebec City and the Quebec government have said a high-speed rail would be a more attractive way to convince drivers to leave their cars and take the train.
While Minister Alghabra maintains that the proposed HFR project remains the best option, he said that if companies can come up with solutions that would allow trains to go faster than the original 200 km/h, he's open to the idea.
However, he set two conditions: the proposals must respect the allocated budgets and not leave out any community included in the initial project.
The HFR, built in partnership with VIA Rail, should make it possible to travel from Montreal to Toronto in 4 hours and 10 minutes, a 55-minute improvement over the current service.
But this promise is only a "minimum," said Alghabra, who is open to faster proposals.
