The High-Speed Rail initiative from Toronto to Québec City will transform transportation in the country’s busiest corridor. It will create a fast, frequent, and reliable rail service that uses mostly dedicated and electrified tracks with stations in Québec City, Trois-Rivières, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto. The official name of this high-speed rail service will be Alto.
By offering shorter travel times and more frequent departures, the initiative will make it easier to travel and create more freedom for where people can live and work.
Additionally, Alto will stimulate economic growth by:
- creating jobs,
- attracting investments, and
- enhancing connectivity between Canada’s major economic hubs.
Through an innovative procurement process, three consortia delivered strong proposals that outlined plans for both high-speed rail and conventional rail. Proposals demonstrated that high-speed rail would offer much better value and outcomes for Canadians. On February 19, 2025, the Government announced the initiative would advance as a high-speed rail network.
Please visit Alto's website to learn more.
On this page
- Procurement phase
- Dedicated Project Office
- We want to hear from you
- Public materials related to the initiative
Procurement phase
The High-speed Rail initiative is the largest transportation infrastructure project that Canada has seen in decades. It 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.
Through Budget 2024, the initiative received $368.3 million in funding over six years to advance project design and development following the conclusion of the procurement phase.
Given the size and scope of the project, the Government of Canada leveraged the world-class knowledge and expertise of private sector companies that have experience with designing and implementing complex infrastructure projects.
On February 17, 2023, the Government of Canada launched the Request for Qualifications, a major step in the procurement process. This Request for Qualifications process closed in April 2023, and on July 20, 2023, the Government of Canada announced three consortia selected to be bidders in the Request for Proposals process.
The three consortia submitted proposals on July 24, 2024. Following a rigorous evaluation period, on February 19, 2025 the Government of Canada announced Cadence as the private developer partner for the next phase of development.
Information collected throughout the procurement process will help inform next steps and future Government of Canada decisions regarding the implementation of Alto.
For further details please see the Backgrounder on the procurement process .
Dedicated Project Office
On December 15, 2022, the Government of Canada announced the creation of VIA HFR-VIA TGF Inc., a new, wholly owned Crown corporation. The Crown corporation is responsible for Alto and operates as a dedicated project office for the initiative assuming 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.
The Crown corporation is mandated to implement the project through an agreement with Cadence, the private developer partner, and in cooperation with the Minister of Transport.
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 Toronto and Québec City.
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 will be essential to developing an effective initiative that creates mutually beneficial socio-economic development and 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 initiative, which will help inform how it is designed and developed.
Learn more about the initiative and get involved