CDPQ Infra Part of Consortium to Develop Canadian High Speed Rail Network
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government has selected a consortium to co-develop a long-studied high-speed-rail link running from Quebec City to Toronto, saying the line will reach speeds of 300 kilometres an hour.
Speaking in Montreal with Transport Minister Anita Anand, Mr. Trudeau called it the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history.
Mr. Trudeau said the project will boost economic growth and support Canada’s steel, aluminum and copper at a time when Canadian resource sectors are facing tariff threats from the United States.
“A reliable, efficient, high speed rail network will be a game changer for Canadians, slashing travel times by half, getting you from Toronto to Montreal in three hours. It will stimulate our economy, strengthen the bonds between cities and our two most populous provinces, and reduce costs for businesses while improving their productivity and competitiveness,” he said.
Via Rail has been proposing a similar high-speed rail corridor since as far back as 1984.
More recently, the Trudeau government has been studying Via’s revised high frequency rail plan since 2016.
Three preselected consortiums submitted private bids last year outlining their plans to build and operate the proposed new passenger rail line. Each of the three bids was required to present two options: one using traditional passenger trains and a second option that includes at least some high-speed-rail segments.
Wednesday’s announcement is that the government has selected the group called Cadence to move ahead on a “co-development phase” for a fully electrified high-speed-rail line covering the roughly 1,000 kilometres of east-west track across Quebec and Ontario. This phase will receive federal funding of $3.9-billion over five years. That is in addition to $371.8-million in funding announced in the 2024 budget.
The Cadence group includes CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure division of Quebec’s pension fund; AtkinsRéalis, the new name for SNC-Lavalin; Air Canada; Keolis, SYSTRA and SNCF Voyageurs, a major French provider of high-speed-rail services in Europe.
Jean-Marc Arbaud, president and chief executive officer of CDPQ Infra, said in a statement that Cadence looks forward to working together on the design of the network.
“This landmark project is set to revolutionize mobility in Canada for future generations,” he said.
Ian Edwards, AtkinsRéalis CEO and president, told BNN that a successful project requires taking time to properly plan. He pointed to his company’s experience working on high-speed rail in the UK.
“I know the cost of these projects, a lot of it is won and made efficient through the design phase. That’s why I truly believe the more that goes into the planning phase, the more successful the contract will be,” he said.
The line will include stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.
After the co-development phase, the project will move on to a construction phase. The government did not announce an estimated cost for the entire cost of the project.
The project had previously been called high-frequency rail as no decision had been made to proceed with the fully high-speed option. On Wednesday, the government referred to the project by a new name, calling it Alto.
Further details were posted Wednesday on the Alto project website.
It states that following the five-year development phase, the plan is to build the network in segments, with the construction of each phase taking between five and seven years to build.
Once fully built, the project promises to reduce travel times between Toronto and Montreal to three hours and seven minutes, down from five-and-a-half hours. Travel times between Montreal and Ottawa would be cut in half to just under one hour; the Toronto-Ottawa trip would take two hours and nine minutes, down from the current four hours and 26 minutes, while the Montreal-Quebec City route would take an hour and twenty-nine minutes, down from three hours and 17 minutes.
Current Via Rail travel times can often take much longer than expected because of long delays. Via does not currently own most of the track in the corridor. The primary owner is Canadian National Railway Co., which gives priority to slower-moving freight traffic. Via has long said that the status quo prevents it from offering more frequent and reliable service.
Mr. Trudeau said this latest announcement makes the project a reality.
“This is real now for the first time in a long time, and it’s taken us years as a government, over the course of three different mandates to get to this point, but we are now seeing high speed rail as a reality for Canadians,” he said.
High speed rail is more costly to build than traditional passenger rail because it generally involves constructing exclusive corridors that do not intersect at ground level with vehicle traffic. That means the project will involve the construction of many bridges along the route.
The government has not yet announced the location of stations. There has been debate over the years over whether the line should include downtown stops – such as Montreal’s Central Station – or simply link with a local transit line that would then take travelers downtown.
Mr. Trudeau made the announcement with Parliament currently prorogued until March 24, to allow time for the Liberal Party to hold a leadership campaign to replace him. The new leader will be announced on March 9.
Emily Williams, a spokesperson for Mark Carney — who is leading the Liberal leadership race in terms of fundraising and high-profile endorsements — praised the project and said the next government must manage the project to maximize benefits for all Canadians.
“High-speed rail is the kind of public-private investment Canada needs to build for the future,” she said in a statement, adding that the project will “create thousands of well-paying jobs and strengthen our local economies.”
Former Liberal finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also running for the Liberal leadership, told reporters in Quebec Wednesday that the plan is an investment in Canada’s economy.
“I think it’s a great project,” she said.
NDP MP and transport critic Taylor Bachrach said the project should be built, but not as a public-private partnership model that he said will drive up costs. He said there should also be a guarantee that the project will use Canadian steel and aluminum, and Canadian workers.
Conservative MP and transport critic Philip Lawrence dismissed the announcement as a “$5-billion photo-op,” including previously announced funds, that shows the Liberals constantly fail to deliver on promises.
“The Liberals had nine years to make progress on high-speed rail, and all they can point to is money spent on high-priced consultants,” he said in a statement that did not say definitely whether a Conservative government would support or reject the project.
“The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in four years. This government is asking for over a decade simply to figure out what they should build,” he said, pledging that a Conservative government will make Canada’s rail network “more reliable, efficient and cost effective.”
Jack Wilson of the Montreal Gazette also reports Trudeau announces high-speed rail line linking Montreal and Toronto in three hours:
High-speed rail is coming to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Wednesday morning in Montreal.
Pledging $3.9 billion over the next six years, Trudeau called the planned rail line “the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history.”
The project is set to span from Quebec City to Toronto, with stops in Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough.
“A reliable, efficient high-speed rail network will be a game changer for Canadians,” Trudeau said, spelling new jobs and a boost to the economy and environment.
Trains will run as fast as 300 km/h, he said, with an expected travel time of three hours between Montreal and Toronto. The current Via Rail route takes more than five hours and faces frequent delays on a track network that gives cargo right-of-way over passenger trains.
“We often hear that trains aren’t fast enough, frequent enough and that they’re too often delayed,” Trudeau said. “That’s going to change.”
Ottawa has selected Cadence, a consortium including AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) and Air Canada, to build the project.
VIA HFR, the Crown corporation created in 2022 to oversee what was initially pitched as a “high frequency” rail project, has been renamed Alto. The federal government had asked the three groups bidding on the project for two proposals: one for a conventional “high frequency” network with a 200 km/h speed limit and one for a high-speed network.
High-speed rail won out in Wednesday’s announcement.
While Alto will be a Crown corporation under federal ownership, the project is a public-private partnership that will see Cadence involved in its design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance.
The project will “turbocharge our economy,” Trudeau said. Figures released with his announcement foresee the project creating 51,000 jobs during the course of construction and boosting Canada’s annual GDP by $35 billion.
Smaller cities along the route are likely to see bigger boosts to their economies than big cities like Montreal, said McGill urban planning professor Ahmed El-Geneidy. Montreal is “mature enough as a metropolitan region” that high-speed rail is unlikely to create a significant ripple effect, he said. But “a lot of economic development” can be expected in smaller cities like Trois-Rivières, he said.
Smart economic development would see the areas around future high-speed rail stations surrounded by mixed-use zoning, allowing for both housing and jobs, El-Geneidy said.
“You want many people to go from Montreal to Trois-Rivières,” he said.
With U.S. President Donald Trump poised to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trudeau said relying on Canadian steel and aluminum will be “an important consideration” when planning the project.
Construction will require “resources we have that we can use in here in Canada,” he said.
Two dozen high-speed rail analyses have been carried out since 1984, without a single project having been built, according to High Speed Rail Canada.
But with this announcement, Trudeau called the decision to go forward with high-speed rail “locked in” and “very difficult to turn back on.”
“It’s good that we are moving” on the project, El-Geneidy said, adding that he wasn’t sure whether this latest attempt would lead to success.
“They have a good team, but it’s all about timing and how much bureaucracy they have to close. There’s a lot of logistics that requires very good co-ordination at the provincial, municipal and federal levels.”
With an election call possible in the coming weeks and federal Conservatives polling ahead of the governing Liberals, he warned that new governments often “try to cancel what the previous government has done just to cancel their legacies.”
“I hope that they will make it resilient” against cancellation, El-Geneidy said.
A statement attributed to Conservative Transport Critic Philip Lawrence called the announcement “a lame duck statement from a lame duck government,” criticizing its timing at less than three weeks before the March 9 date Liberals have set to announce a new leader.
“Conservatives are committed to making Canada’s rail network more reliable, efficient and cost effective,” the statement continued, without specifying whether a Conservative government would keep or cancel the project.
“It’s pretty clear that this is a policy option that should be universally accepted regardless of the government in place at the time,” said Transport Minister Anita Anand.
The consortium and the federal government will sign the contract in the coming weeks, she said.
“High-speed rail was always going to be a project that would take long enough to build to cover multiple governments,” Trudeau said.
The project will now enter a five-year planning phase, in which the government will decide the track design, finalize the route and select station locations, Anand said.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante was optimistic when reacting to the news at a Wednesday morning scrum.
“Some people will say, ‘ah, it’s not going to happen,’ but I just want to remind people that for 25 years no one thought we would do the (métro’s) Blue Line.”
“I will always support a project like this,” she said. “It’s not an expense. It’s really an investment in the long term in terms of saving time, good for the economy, good for ecology. It’s good for everybody.”
“The concept is good,” said Hydro-Québec CEO Michael Sabia, who formerly served as deputy finance minister under Trudeau and then-finance minister Chrystia Freeland.
He made the comments to reporters Wednesday afternoon after telling a business audience that investment in large projects should be part of Canada’s strategy to emerge stronger from U.S. tariff threats.
“As with everything, the devil’s in the detail,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that can happen between concept and reality.”
Said El-Geneidy: “We have seen a lot of announcements” related to high-speed rail.“ When you start seeing them digging in the ground, that’s when you say ‘oh, it’s happening.’”
Mathieu Dion of Bloomberg also reports CDPQ, Systra win bid to build high-speed rail project in Canada:
Canada awarded a contract for a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) high-speed passenger rail project between Toronto and Quebec City to a group led by the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Wednesday in Montreal. Overall costs were not disclosed, but high-level studies done by the transportation department said a high-speed rail project in the region would reach well over $65 billion (US$45.7 billion) — and it’s likely to be much higher.
The government chose a consortium named Cadence to develop, build and operate the project known as Alto. It includes CDPQ’s infrastructure unit along with engineering firms AtkinsRealis Group Inc. and Systra SA and transportation companies Groupe Keolis SAS, Air Canada and SNCF Voyageurs.
Canada has allocated $3.9 billion over the next several years to develop the project, but there’s no timeline for completion.
Proponents have been talking about high-speed rail for decades as a tool for economic development and reducing emissions. Canada is the world’s second-largest country in land area, but 60% of its 41 million people live in Ontario and Quebec and most of those are in a southern corridor — density that creates suitable conditions for rail.
But Trudeau is set to leave office next month and an election is near. A new government will be under pressure to make investments in military, security and energy infrastructure; it’s too early to say where a high-speed rail project would fit in with its priorities.
Trudeau and Transport Minister Anita Anand emphasized at a news conference that it would be hard for a future government to walk away from the contracts, or to pass up the productivity gains to the Canadian economy.
“Future governments will make their determinations about how they invest. But this investment in Canadians, which starts right now, is going to be very difficult to turn back on,” Trudeau said.
Currently, a passenger train trip between Toronto and Montreal takes about five and half hours, roughly the same time as by car. Train trips are often delayed because they use Canadian National Railway Co. tracks, on which freight has priority.
High-speed trains moving on dedicated tracks at a top speed of 185 miles per hour would cut times significantly. Toronto to Montreal would take about three hours, while Toronto to Ottawa would be a little more than two.
Stops are planned in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivieres and Quebec City.
CDPQ has built an expertise with rail systems. The pension fund is currently building an $8 billion light rail system in Montreal, known as the Réseau Express Métropolitain. The pension fund undertook the 42-mile project in 2015 to link Montreal’s international airport to several suburbs. A first phase is operational, and the project is slated to finish in 2027, seven years behind schedule.
Two other groups made proposals, and the government now owns the right to use their ideas as well. The losing bidders included engineering firm Jacobs and Deutsche Bahn AG, the German rail company.
California debacle
Gilles Roucolle, author of Transformations in Mobility and Oliver Wyman’s co-head of Europe, said in an interview that the Toronto-Montreal corridor is already well-served by airlines and roads. The “stickiness effect of frequent flier programs” and the relatively low cost of road transportation must be considered before choosing the best project for this corridor, he said.
“It’s a market that is already quite well-covered competitively,” Roucolle explained. Key benefits will be the reduced door-to-door transit time and flexibility for business travelers. “If you don’t have frequency, you cannot catch the high-contribution travelers.”
A similar project under construction between San Francisco and Los Angeles is facing significant funding and political challenges.
The California High Speed Rail Authority was established in 1996, but voters took until 2008 to approve almost $10 billion of general obligation bonds for the project. Construction started seven years later. Costs have since soared to $128 billion, and about 6% of the project has not been cleared by environmental authorities.
Uncertainty remains over how the California project will be funded and whether a first 171-mile segment between Bakersfield and Merced will be commissioned between 2030 and 2033, as is the target.
The train “is the worst-managed project I think I’ve ever seen,” US President Donald Trump said last week, calling for an investigation into it.
And of CBC New report high-speed rail line with 300 km/h trains will run between Toronto and Quebec City, Trudeau announces:
The Liberal government launched a six-year, $3.9-billion design and development plan Wednesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says will eventually connect Quebec City and Toronto with a high-speed rail line.
"Today I'm announcing the launch of Alto, the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history," Trudeau said from Montreal. "A reliable, efficient, high-speed rail network will be a game-changer for Canadians."
Trudeau said the new rail network will run all-electric trains along 1,000 kilometres of track, reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour, with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.
A government statement said the project will stimulate the economy, "boosting GDP by up to $35 billion annually, creating over 51,000 good-paying jobs during construction."
Trudeau said that once built, the new high-speed rail network will take passengers from Montreal to Toronto in three hours — about half the time it takes to drive and at double the speed of Via Rail's current trains.
Construction on the new line will not begin until the design phase is done, which could take four to five years. Funds are to be allocated at the end of that time period, so it's possible a future government could modify or cancel the project.
Last month, Trudeau announced he would be stepping down as prime minister. The race to succeed him is in full swing, with a new Liberal leader and prime minister set to be selected by March 9. An election is expected in the spring.
"High-speed rail in this country was always going to be a project that would take long enough to build that it would cover multiple governments … from municipal to provincial to federal," Trudeau said.
"Obviously, future governments will make their determinations about how they invest. But this investment in Canadians, which starts right now, is going to be very difficult to turn back on," he added.
Contract with consortium yet to be signed
Trudeau said the consortium Cadence — made up of CDPQ Infra, AtkinsRéalis, Keolis, SYSTRA, SNCF Voyageurs and Air Canada — was selected to build the line. The group was only informed in the last 24 hours that their bid was the best of the three submitted, according to sources that spoke to Radio-Canada.
Transport Minister Anita Anand said that Alto, the Crown corporation created to oversee the project, and Cadence will be signing a contract "in the coming weeks" that will outline the first-phase design work, such as where track will be laid and where stations will be built.
A government statement said the initial development stage funding will be spread over six years starting this year, but Anand and Trudeau said in Montreal Wednesday that the design stage of the project might only last four to five years.
Martin Imbleau, Alto's president and CEO, said the long lead time is necessary to ensure the project will not encounter problems when construction begins.
"We're going to take our time, properly develop the project, look at the different phases and in four or five years, we'll know what we're building," Imbleau said.
As Radio-Canada first reported in October, the Liberal government had opted for a high-speed train rather than a slower high-frequency train project to transport passengers between Quebec City and Toronto.
A government statement said "Canada's investment in the co-development phase of the project represents $3.9 billion over six years, starting in 2024-25," in addition to the $371.8 million announced in the budget.
Transport Canada initially estimated that the cost of a high-speed rail link between the two cities could be as high as $80 billion.
Conservatives, Carney, Freeland react
CBC News asked the Conservatives if they would support the project's completion should they form the next government, but they did not provide a direct answer.
Conservative MP Philip Lawrence, the party's transport critic, dismissed the announcement as little more than a photo-op.
"The prime minister will be gone in two weeks. The minister of transport will not be seeking re-election. Today's announcement is a lame duck statement from a lame duck government," Lawrence said in a statement.
"Today's announcement is yet another promise with no details that will take years and $3.9 billion on planning and bureaucracy, without laying a single piece of track," he said.
Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney welcomed the news on Wednesday, saying a new high-speed rail network could bring large economic benefits.
"This has all the potential to be the type of project, a public-private partnership, that the country needs," Carney said at a news conference in Scarborough, Ont.
He added that if he becomes the Liberal leader, he would "ensure that the project going ahead benefits all Canadians."
Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, another candidate for the Liberal leadership, also backed the project.
"I think it's a great project. I think we need to be building more infrastructure. We need to have more connections between the cities in our country. This is a great investment in Canada's economy, in Canadian people," she said.
A history of toying with high-speed rail
Canada is the only G7 country without some form of high-speed rail, although the idea has been studied for decades.
A joint Ontario, Quebec and federal government study completed in 1995 found that the idea of running trains between Quebec City and Windsor was feasible if they were at least 300 km/h and the private sector assumed half the cost and all the risk.
In 2008, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest agreed to conduct another study of the project. When that study suggested it could cost more than $21 billion, however, enthusiasm waned.
In 2017, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced plans to build a high-speed rail network between Toronto and London by 2025, but that was axed when Doug Ford took office.
Alright, I'll leave the politics aside even if I find the timing of this announcement smacks of political opportunism and focus on the project itself and what it means for CDPQ Infra, CDPQ and other large Canadian pension funds.
Right now everything is fresh, nothing has been signed but Transport Minister Anita Anand said the papers will be signed in the coming weeks.
Next comes the planning/ co-development phase which will take five years and I bring your attention to this part:
Ian Edwards, AtkinsRéalis (formerly called SNC Lavalin) CEO and president, told BNN that a successful project requires taking time to properly plan. He pointed to his company’s experience working on high-speed rail in the UK.
“I know the cost of these projects, a lot of it is won and made efficient through the design phase. That’s why I truly believe the more that goes into the planning phase, the more successful the contract will be,” he said.
After the co-develoment phase comes construction with each phase taking 5-7 years.
The government did not announce an estimated cost for the entire project but according to CBC, Transport Canada initially estimated that the cost of a high-speed rail link between the two cities could be as high as $80 billion.
Now, let me put this into perspective.
An infrastructure expert I know -- someone who actually worked on the REM during the critical early phases -- sent me interesting information on the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail:
Also known as the South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail (SEA HSR), Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail is a massive project under development in France.
Construction of the project started in mid-2012 and was completed in early 2017. The line is scheduled to open for passengers in July 2017.
The €7.8bn ($10.06bn) project involved construction of a new 302km high-speed link between Tours and Bordeaux, as well as 38km of connecting lines to the existing rail network along the corridor.
The line passes through Centre, Poitou-Charentes, and Aquitaine regions, as well as through six departments of France. It reduces the journey time between Paris and Bordeaux by approximately one hour. As many as 20 million passengers can take advantage of the high-speed transport service on the new line.
The project created 4,500 temporary jobs during construction and will generate 150 permanent jobs in the operation and maintenance stages. It will also free up the existing Tours-Bordeaux line for more freight and regional express train traffic.
Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail Project development details
The Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail Project was advanced as part of an integrated plan for developing national and European high-speed railway networks. It was proposed as an extension of the LGV Atlantique, a high-speed line from Paris to Western France that opened in 1989.
LGV Atlantique consists of one line running westward to Le Mans towards Brittany and another routed in a southwest direction to Tours. The Tours-Bordeaux line extends the southwest LGV Atlantique up to Bordeaux.
Completion of the proposed Grand Projet ferroviaire du Sud-Ouest (GPSO) project will enable the Tours-Bordeaux line to further open up the regional network.
Preliminary studies on the Tours-Bordeaux line were conducted between 1995 and 2002. Early design studies were completed in 2007, while the process for selecting the concessionaire started in 2009. Project implementation followed concession contract award in June 2011.
Contractors for the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail project
The Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail line was built through a 50-year concession contract, the largest of its kind.
Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) awarded the contract to LISEA, a special purpose company promoted by VINCI in June 2011. LISEA is owned by VINCI (33.4%), CDC Infrastructure (25.4%), SOJAS (22%), and AXA Private Equity (19.2%).
The concession contract includes financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the project for 50 years. The design-build contract has been awarded to COSEA, a consortium led by VINCI Construction. Other players include Eurovia, BEC, NGE, TSO, Ineo, Inexia, Arcadis, and Egis Rail.
A company called MESEA has been formed by VINCI Concessions (70%) and Inexia (30%) to operate and maintain the high-speed line.
Funding for the new high speed rail line between Tours and Bordeaux
The Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail is funded through a public-private partnership. LISEA is responsible for financing €3.8bn ($4.9bn) of the project cost. Sources for LISEA’s financing include equity contribution by LISEA shareholders, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Fonds d’Epargne, bank debts guaranteed by the French Government, and non-guaranteed bank debts.
Public subsidies offered by the French Government, local communities, and the EU will amount to nearly €3bn ($3.8bn). RFF will invest €1bn ($1.3bn) in the project.
Route details and construction of Tours-Bordeaux HSR project
The 302km new high-speed line connecting is a double-track line, which allows trains to operate at speeds of up to 320km/h on electric power. The line passes through 19 viaducts and seven cut-and-cover tunnels. The project involved construction of 400 civil engineering structures in total.
The new line bypasses Libourne, Poitiers, and Angoulême with 17 new connecting lines. This line is 38km long in total.
Construction of the €6.2bn ($8bn) project was divided into two phases. Phase 1 involved the construction of the Angoulême-Bordeaux section, while phase 2 involved the Tours-Angoulême section.
Preparatory works such as excavation and installation of access tracks started in 2012. Earthworks and civil engineering works were complete by July 2015.
Contractors and suppliers involved in the Tours-Bordeaux HSR line
Eurovia Travaux Ferroviaires and TSO laid tracks for the new high-speed line and Tata Steel secured an order in 2011 to supply rail infrastructure. Vossloh was awarded a contract worth €60m ($77.4m) in September 2012 to supply switch and rail fastening systems for the project.
Ansaldo STS was awarded a €46.7m ($60.2m) contract in January 2012 for providing signalling systems and services for the line. The company supplied its Interlocking SEI and TVM 300 technologies along with track circuits and hot box detectors. Arcadis was awarded a subcontract worth €25m ($32.2m) in the same month to carry out design works of certain structures of the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail project.
I share this with you for a lot of reasons, first and foremost because it should serve as somewhat of a blueprint on how Alto, the Crown Corporation ultimately in charge of this project should proceed.
It took them 5 years (2012-2017) to build a 300 km high speed rail corridor at a cost of US$10 billion.
The best of the best --LISEA/ VINCI -- worked on constructing and operating that high speed rail project.
The cost now for this Canadian high speed rail project would be triple that if we are lucky, probably five to six times the cost (I’m referring to cost per kilometre of rail).
Add another 5 years for planning, it can easily take 20 to 25 years to complete this mega project.
But it does reassure me that CDPQ Infra is part of this consortium because they completed the REM and that project is estimated to cost CA$9.4 billion as of 2024.
This is a 26% increase from the original $6.3 billion estimate and most of this cost overrun was due to delays after they found old undetonated explosives in the tunnel under Mont Royal (there were other legitimate delays).
CDPQ absorbed these extra costs. The cost per kilometre of the REM is $125 million and that is far less than what it typically costs governments to complete such a project (think eight to ten times that cost).
The other thing worth noting from the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail project is how they properly financed through a public-private partnership:
The Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail is funded through a public-private partnership. LISEA is responsible for financing €3.8bn ($4.9bn) of the project cost. Sources for LISEA’s financing include equity contribution by LISEA shareholders, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Fonds d’Epargne, bank debts guaranteed by the French Government, and non-guaranteed bank debts.
Public subsidies offered by the French Government, local communities, and the EU will amount to nearly €3bn ($3.8bn). RFF will invest €1bn ($1.3bn) in the project.
This is where CDPQ, the rest of the Maple Eight and even a Brookfield can come in to provide financing for this mega project as long as the terms are right over the long run and governments cannot change them along the way (keep in mind Jim Leech's story of how OTPP once got burned investing in a Canadian infrastructure project because the government changed regulations along the way).
Lastly, while I am glad CDPQ Infra is part of the consortium, I have some reservations regarding Alto and its leadership.
Its CEO, Martin Imbleau, was previous CEO of the Port of Montreal where he basically fired all the senior executives and then jumped shipped to take this job when that ship was sinking fast.
Previously, he was Vice-President of Corporate Strategies and Business Development at Hydro-Québec.
While his resume sounds impressive, he's not an infrastructure expert and not the right leader for this mega project.
You can agree or disagree with me all you want, hopefully I am wrong but his track record speaks volumes and I'm hardly impressed.
Below, CBC News reports high-speed rail project announced Wednesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to create more than 51,000 jobs and get passengers from Toronto to Montreal in three hours.
Trudeau called it a 'game-changer,' with the potential to turbocharge the country's economic growth, but with the design phase alone expected to last four to five years, how long will it take before construction begins? Minister of Transport Anita Anand stops by Power & Politics to discuss this project.
Also, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday the development of its largest-ever infrastructure project: a high-speed rail network in the Toronto-Québec City corridor dubbed Alto. Listen to his comments and get ready for a long campaign season.
Will Canada finally see a high speed rail which connects Quebec City to Toronto? I hope so because we are the only developed nation without one and it's embarrassing but I'm not going to celebrate till I see construction begin and pray the final cost doesn't exceed $500 billion (you read that right).
Lastly, an older clip on the Tours-Bordeaux High-Speed Rail. VINCI knew what it was doing when it built this project. Watch and hope we follow in their footsteps.
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