Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on February 19 that the country would construct an approximately 620-mile high-speed rail line between  Toronto and Quebec City, capable of hosting trains running up to 185 miles per hour. 

The new train, called Alto, would cut travel times in half and take people between Montreal and Toronto in just three hours. 

“Canada is getting high-speed rail. Today’s announcement of Alto, a high-speed rail system between Toronto and Quebec City, will transform our economy – drastically shortening commute times for millions of Canadians, turbocharging economic growth, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, improving productivity, and reducing emissions. Montréal to Toronto in three hours – you can’t beat that,” Trudeau said.

In November 2022, the Government of Canada created a Crown corporation, VIA HFR, to oversee this project. VIA HFR has now been rebranded Alto. Cadence has been selected to co-design and build this project and finance, operate, and maintain it. Cadence is a consortium of world-renowned companies with expertise and know-how in the design, development, and operation of large-scale transportation infrastructure. The project is expected to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion. It would be the largest public infrastructure project in Canadian history. The design phase of the project is expected to take four or five years. —Justin Franz