Curious Ottawa residents turned out for Alto’s two-day open house to get their first look at Canada’s high-speed rail plans.
By: Duncan Roi
(Photo courtesy Alto)
Residents gathered at the Bayview Yards event venue on Jan. 21-22 for an early look at Canada’s first high-speed rail project. The event offered attendees a chance to learn about the proposed rail line and its potential impacts on the city.
Alto representatives were on hand to answer questions and gather feedback. The venue was filled with attendees as interactive displays showed the proposed route and how the rail service itself will run.
The line would connect Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City across a more than 1,000-kilometre corridor, travelling at speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour.
“One reason we’re doing this is that we’re cutting travel time in half,” said Joel Wiebe, a senior adviser for community relations at Alto. “So you’re looking at Ottawa to Montreal in about an hour, two hours to downtown Toronto and an hour and a half to Peterborough. And we’re going to be boosting the economies of the places we’re going to.”
The project is currently in the predevelopment phase but is moving quickly. According to Benedict Durrant, the project’s lead economist, it could generate 50,000 jobs, with Ottawa’s workforce playing a key role.
Alto has also partnered with Cadence, a collection of infrastructure companies, to deliver the project. Together, they are already working alongside local colleges and skilled-trades organizations to prepare for the future labour demands tied to the construction of the high-speed rail.
“Part of what we’re doing is working with industry, working with training providers, working with colleges and understanding how we can support where there are existing skill shortages and forecast future skill shortages,” said Durrant.
Durrant also emphasized that the project will focus on strengthening the economies of the cities along the rail line. “We train Canadian, we buy Canadian, we’re built Canadian,” said Durrant.
However many questions remain unanswered. The biggest for Ottawa residents is where the high-speed station will be located. The Senate of Canada Building (formerly Ottawa Central Station) has been mentioned as a possibility, although no location has yet been confirmed.
The train is planned to integrate with Ottawa’s existing transit infrastructure, but it is not yet clear how that will be done. Questions also remain about how neighbourhoods along the corridor will be affected by the project.
Alto is also weighing whether the Ottawa to Peterborough corridor should follow a northern or southern route, with each option presenting unique trade-offs related to potential environmental impacts.
Residents who missed the open house can still provide feedback through Alto’s interactive online map as the project continues to develop.