Home » News » Is it high noon for high-speed rail?

Is it high noon for high-speed rail?

Ontario's high-speed rail map

Travel from London to Toronto in 37 minutes flat.

That’s the promise of high-speed rail, which has thrived in Europe for years and may finally arrive in Canada after decades of deliberation.

A high-speed route extending from Windsor to Quebec City may be underway if a report released next month by the Canadian government gives it a green light.

The $8 million study looks at the feasibility of high-speed trains in Ontario and Quebec. It’s the culmination of years of research into the rail service, according to Roger Cameron, director of public affairs for the Railway Association of Canada.

“It’s going to be an interesting few months,” he said.

High-speed trains run faster than 200 km/hr and would likely use their own tracks instead of using existing tracks used by VIA Rail and the Canadian National Railway.

A separate report will be released by the Quebec government after research into France’s high-speed rail network, according to Paul Langan, founder of High Speed Rail Canada, a non-profit organization promoting the benefits of high-speed railways.

But the biggest turning point for introducing high-speed rail in Canada may come from south of the border. This year, United States’ President Barack Obama is expected to follow through on a vision for high-speed rail announced in 2009, giving Canada the motivation to make the move on similar transportation.

“It’s judgment day for high-speed rail,” Langan said. “It’s never been better. Whether that’s enough, I don’t know.”

Langan believes high-speed rail is the next phase in modernized transportation. He thinks it will solve many problems with the traditional commute.

“I hate driving. I drive for my job and anybody that says it’s good times is not in reality. It’s just hell,” the 50-year-old Guelph resident said.

He credited young people who travel abroad for spreading positive experiences with the high-speed rail service in Europe.

While details of Canada’s plans are still in the discovery phases, the potential price tag is already turning some heads.

Peter White, chief executive officer of the London Economic Development Corporation, was involved in consultations for the federal report and puts the price tag at around $25 to $35 billion.

He said the challenge for getting support for high-speed rail is convincing citizens to foot the bill.

“With the U.S. also undertaking studies on it, it’s something that will come to fruition eventually,” he said. “It’s just a matter of timing and the funds for it. If there was no issue of budgeting, people would be for getting high speed underway.”

White said the benefits to London would be numerous. The city is already home to the fourth busiest VIA Rail station in the country. Combined with a concentration of freight trains coming through London, the city could become a central connecting point between Western Ontario and Quebec.

“It’s a great way to move people,” White said. “Over the long term it will help with congestion, opening up opportunities for economic development.”

The manufacturing sector is also set to benefit from high-speed rail, which would need an investment into creating railway tracks — a market Canada has been out of for decades, according to Cameron.

If high-speed rail gets approved by the federal government, both the provincial and municipal levels would weigh in on the project, meaning several years before tracks are laid.

At that point, White said London would certainly see a high-speed stop in the city.

“It’s just a question of how it gets rolled out. I think we’ll definitely be a point on the rail.”

Follow the Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.