High Frequency Rail (HFR) is a mandate letter commitment for the Minister of Transport. High Frequency Rail will transform passenger rail service in Canada. It will create a modern, resilient, and sustainable rail service that uses mostly dedicated and electrified tracks between Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto.
By providing more and better transportation options in Canada’s busiest travel corridor, High Frequency Rail will make rail more accessible and create more choices for where people can live and work. It will also support the long-term regional and economic growth of the country’s most densely populated region.
Please visit the High Frequency Rail website to learn more about this exciting and transformational project.
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Procurement Phase
High Frequency Rail is the largest transportation infrastructure project that Canada has seen in decades, and would be the biggest investment in Canadian passenger rail in a generation. As with any large infrastructure project, the Government of Canada has been advancing the project in phases. We are currently in the Procurement Phase.
Through Budget 2022, Transport Canada and Infrastructure Canada received $396.8 million in funding over two years to advance the project through the Procurement Phase.
Given the size and scope of the project, the Government of Canada is looking to leverage the world-class knowledge and expertise of private sector companies that have experience with designing and implementing complex infrastructure projects. The ultimately goal of the procurement process would be to select a private developer partner that can bring world-class innovation and expertise to deliver the best results for Canadians in a sustainable, reliable, accessible, and environmentally conscious way. The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) respondents will have the flexibility to consider alternatives to meet or exceed the project results described in the RFQ. This would include opportunities to increase speeds beyond 200 kilometers per hour on some segments of the High Frequency Rail project, if it is cost effective to do so.
Information collected throughout the procurement process will help inform next steps and future Government of Canada decisions regarding the implementation of High Frequency Rail.
Please visit the High Frequency Rail website for current information on the project and updates on the procurement process.
VIA HFR – Dedicated Project Office
On December 15, 2022, the Government of Canada announced the creation of VIA HFR-VIA TGF Inc. (“VIA HFR”), a new, wholly owned Crown corporation that will report to Parliament through the Minister of Transport. VIA HFR will operate as a dedicated project office for the High Frequency Rail project. Once it is fully operational, it will assume leadership of key project activities, including:
- Indigenous consultations and public engagement,
- advancing impact assessment requirements,
- negotiations with Host Railways, and
- technical and engineering design work.
Once a private developer partner has been selected, VIA HFR would work with the partner to design and develop the High Frequency Rail project, in close coordination with VIA Rail.
We want to hear from you
The Government of Canada is committed to engaging Canadians, including communities along the proposed route, as well as communities currently served by VIA Rail between Quebec City and Toronto.
The Government of Canada is equally committed to building nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationships with Indigenous Peoples. Input and feedback from Indigenous Peoples throughout the life of the project will be essential to developing an effective project that creates mutually beneficial socio-economic development and project participation opportunities.
An inclusive and ongoing dialogue will create opportunities for the public, communities, and Indigenous Peoples to share views and perspectives on all aspects of the project, which will help inform how this project is designed and developed.