Plans to build Canada’s first high-speed rail line took a major step forward today, with the federal government announcing that the first segment of Alto will run between Ottawa and Montreal.

The roughly 200-km-long Ottawa–Montreal corridor will serve as the first phase of what will eventually become an approximately 1,000-km-long high-speed rail line stretching from Toronto to Quebec City . Construction on this initial segment is now expected to begin in 2029.

Alto, the name of both the line and the recently created federal Crown corporation overseeing the public-private partnership to achieve the project, will introduce trains capable of reaching speeds of up to 300 km/h on 100 per cent dedicated tracks powered by overhead catenary electrical lines — cutting travel times in half

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