Trains sit on the tracks at the Via Rail Canada Maintenance Centre in Montreal, on Feb. 22.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
The House of Commons transport committee is calling on Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez to provide a clear cost breakdown of the proposed high-frequency passenger rail project between Toronto and Quebec City, including how much more it would cost to switch to a high-speed option.
The Conservative Party, which is well ahead in public opinion polls, also provided its first detailed analysis of the project, concluding in a supplementary report that more costing information is needed before the party can take a clear position.
The project would include stops in Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough, Ont. It would run parallel and to the north of the tracks currently used by Via Rail. The current route is primarily owned by CN Rail, which gives priority to slower freight traffic. Via Rail would continue to serve communities on that route.
Three preselected consortiums submitted private bids to the federal government earlier this year, outlining their plans to build and operate the proposed new passenger rail line. Each of the bids was required to present two options: one using traditional passenger trains and a second that includes at least some high-speed rail segments.
Ottawa is expected to announce a winner before the end of the year. The federal government has approved hundreds of millions of dollars in studies, but cabinet has not yet given the final green light to the project and its cost is unknown.
The committee report is the result of hearing from 33 witnesses over 10 meetings about the project.
Uncertainty over the cost is a major focus of the all-party committee report.
Among its 18 recommendations is a call for the Transport Minister to table a report within six months with a budget and a timetable for completing the project, including an analysis of the incremental cost between high-frequency rail and high-speed rail.
Former transport minister Omar Alghabra has previously speculated that the project could cost between $6-billion and $12-billion, but Martin Imbleau, the head of VIA HFR, the Crown corporation leading the project, told MPs last year that previous estimates “are probably not adequate anymore.” He has declined to speculate on an updated price tag.
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The committee report does not take a clear position on whether the project should be fully high speed, which is more expensive because of the requirement to build bridges along the line to avoid at-grade crossings where the line intersects with roads.
Via is currently replacing its aging trains with new Siemens Venture trainsets, which can travel at a speed of up to 200 kilometres an hour – but the current class of track limits top speeds to 160 kilometres an hour.
High-speed trains in Europe can travel 300 kilometres an hour or more.
The report does call on the government to “look to countries with successful publicly operated high-speed rail systems, such as Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, to inform the procurement and operations model of the HFR project.”
The committee also recommends that the project leadership work with Amtrak, the American passenger rail provider, as well as regional and provincial transportation services, to improve connections and enhance tourism.
In its supplementary report, the Conservative Party expressed concern about a lack of transparency.
“At this stage the true cost of this project is unknown, critical consultations with municipal and Indigenous governments have not taken place and decisions on routing have not yet been determined or shared with Canadians. The VIA HFR project is still in the development phase and as a result it is impossible to accurately determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that will be posed by the final project at this time,” the party said.
In a separate supplementary report, the NDP criticized the government’s decision to rely on a new public-private partnership with ties to Via Rail to build and operate the line, rather than leaving the project in the hands of Via’s existing corporate structure.
“For a project as big and costly to the Canadian taxpayer as HFR, transparency and accountability are essential to ensuring the viability of the project,” the NDP said. “But handing planning, development and operation of the project over to private corporations comes with significant risks.”
Laurent de Casanove, a spokesperson for the Transport Minister, said the project “will bring many benefits to Canadians” and added that the government is making sure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.
“We’ll have more to share on this important initiative in due course.”