Today, Canada is the only country in the G7 without high-speed rail—defined as trains that travel at least 200 km/h. Some train cars operating in the Quebec City–Windsor corridor date back to 1947, two years after the end of the Second World War.“At this point, the majority of the G20 have high-speed rail service, and a bunch of countries outside the bloc do as well. Canada is looking more and more like a place that can’t build the big infrastructure other rich democracies can,” said Reece Martin, a transportation consultant and content creator.The Hub spoke with Leslie Woo, the former chief planning and development officer at Metrolinx now urban planner and CEO of CivicAction, as well as Martin, about how Canada can build high-speed rail in a cost-effective and timely manner.Trudeau’s high-speed rail aspirationsThis October, Radio-Canada reported that the federal government planned to announce a high-speed rail project connecting Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City. It’s a plan that could mean you could step on a train in Toronto and be in Montreal in just three hours.The plan marked a shift from a previously announced “high-frequency rail” project, which would have focused on more frequent but still relatively slow service between these cities.Currently, passenger trains along that corridor can only reach 160 km/h; however, trains often run at slower speeds due to the right of way of freight trains on several sections of the line. High-speed trains would need to run on a new and separate high-speed rail line.According to Radio-Canada, the federal government is expected to choose one of three bids. The bidders are Cadence, composed of SNC-Lavalin, CDPQ Infra, Systra Canada, Keolis Canada, and Air Canada; Intercity Rail Developers, which includes EllisDon Capital, Kilmer Transportation, First Rail Holdings, Jacobs, Hatch, CIMA+, FirstGroup, RATP Dev Canada, and Renfe Operadora; and QConnexiON Rail Partners, comprising Fengate, John Laing, Bechtel, WSP Canada, and German Rail.The Hub reached out to the Ministry of Transport, but at the time of publication, the full extent of the plan and a successful bidder has not yet been announced.$120 billion for a train? An estimate by Transport Canada suggests that a high-speed rail network could cost up to $80 billion. But Pierre Barrieau, a lecturer in transportation planning at the Université de Montréal and consultant with urban planning firm Gris Orange, thinks the project could reach as high as $120 billion.A price tag of $120 billion for about 1,000 kilometres (the distance of the previously announced Toronto-Quebec City high-frequency rail project) equates to approximately $120 million per kilometre, significantly more than the cost to build high-speed rail in other countries. For example, France builds high-speed rail at $38 million per kilometre. Spain’s network meanwhile costs approximately $26 million per kilometre.Martin called the $80–120 billion figure ridiculous arguing that Canada should spend no more than $30–60 billion. (ICE TORONTO)

Fonte notizia: https://thehub.ca/