Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (Via Rail)
Quebec City–Windsor Corridor | |||
---|---|---|---|
standard gauge | |||
Operating speed | 160 km/h (100 mph) | ||
|
The Corridor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2
|
Bathurst Street
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
0 |
0
|
Toronto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
254
|
Kingston
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cornwall
|
428
|
446
|
Ottawa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
539
|
Montreal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
811
|
Quebec City | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
km
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (French: Ligne de Québec à Windsor), also known as simply the Corridor, is a Via Rail passenger train service in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada and contributes 67% of Via's revenue.
History
Prior to Via's formation in 1978, Canadian National Railway operated its passenger trains, branded Rapido, on the same tracks and Canadian Pacific Railway (now Canadian Pacific Kansas City) also offered limited service.
High-speed proposal
During the 1970s and early 1980s, CN and later Via Rail operated the
After a hiatus of ten years, a feasibility study on launching a high-speed rail service in the Corridor will be updated at the joint cost of the federal government, Ontario and Quebec.[2] On November 14, 2011, the three governments officially released the final report of a high-speed rail study for this corridor.[3]
2009–2010 improvements
In 2009–2010, Via used
Service
Inter-city rail
Inter-city service along the Corridor is provided by several different routes connecting the different cities served by the service. There is no single route that travels the entire length of the Corridor from Windsor to Quebec City. Via runs a mix of local-service and express trains in the Corridor. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada, with 36 Via trains traversing the route daily.[4] About 67% of Via's revenue comes from Corridor routes.
Via trains that start and end within the geographic region of the
The Maple Leaf, a through service from Toronto to New York City, operated jointly with Amtrak, is crewed by Via as trains 97 and 98 on Via schedules, between Toronto and Niagara Falls, and can be considered part of Corridor services as well. It is the only scheduled rail service from the Corridor line from Burlington to Niagara Falls.
Commuter rail
Two commuter rail agencies, GO Transit and Exo, share tracks with Via's Corridor trains. Both agencies are provincially funded and independent of Via.
- The GO Transit Kitchener line shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Toronto Union Station to Kitchener station and a pilot to London station.
- The GO Transit Lakeshore West line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Bayview junction, just west of Aldershot GO Station. The Lakeshore West line Niagara Branch shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Toronto Union Station to Niagara Falls.
- The GO Transit Lakeshore East line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Durham Junction, just west of Pickering GO Station. Between Pickering and Oshawa, GO trains use a separate parallel line immediately north of the CN/Via tracks.
- The Exo Mont-Saint-Hilaire line shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Montreal Central Station to Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
- The Exo Vaudreuil-Hudson line operates in the same corridor as Via trains from Dorion to Lachine, but does not share tracks with Via trains. Exo trains operate on CPKC tracks, while Via trains operate on parallel CN tracks.
Trackage
Most of the trackage that Via trains use along the Corridor is owned by the
Future
On July 6, 2021, Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra announced that the federal government would launch the procurement process to build a high-frequency rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City by 2030.[6] The cost of the project was expected to be between $6 billion and $12 billion. The plan is to have trains travel up to 200 km/h (125 mph) on a line that would run from Toronto to Quebec City through Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, and Trois-Rivières.[6] As opposed to current operations along the Corridor, the trains would run on dedicated passenger tracks, improving service reliability since the trains would not have to compete with freight trains.[7] Service reliability could increase to 95 percent, up significantly from its 2021 rate of 67 percent.[6] Travel times are projected to decrease by 90 minutes on some routes, such as between Ottawa and Toronto. 90 percent of the route is planned to be electrified.[7] The timing of the announcement was criticized as political, since there was speculation of a federal election being held later in the year, which was later confirmed on August 15.[6]
In July 2023, the government selected three consortia to proceed to the request-for-proposals stage:[8]
- Cadence: Systra and Keolis
- Intercity Rail Developers: Intercity Development Partners, EllisDon, Kilmer Transportation, Jacobs, Hatch, CIMA+, FirstGroup, RATP and Renfe
- QConnexiON Rail Partners: Fengate, John Laing, Bechtel, WSP and Deutsche Bahn
See also
- High-speed rail in Canada
- Maple Leaf (Amtrak)
- Northeast Corridor
- Quebec City–Windsor Corridor
- Rail transport in Ontario
References
- ^ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). viarail.ca. Via Rail Canada. p. 9. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ Greenaway, Norma (January 10, 2008). "Ontario-Quebec to study rapid rail link". National Post.[dead link]
- ^ "High-Speed Passenger Rail Study Released". Retrieved May 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Warwick, Peter (December 2009). "Via's bold Corridor plan". Trains Magazine. Kalmbach Publishing.
- ^ Montréal: Via Rail. 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Westoll, Nick (July 6, 2021). "Feds set to begin procurement process for Toronto-Quebec City high-frequency rail corridor". Global News. Toronto: Corus Entertainment. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ^ a b Boisvert, Nick (July 5, 2021). "Liberals announce plans for new 'high frequency' rail lines from Toronto to Quebec City". CBC News. Ottawa. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ Three consortia in running for Canada’s High Frequency Rail project International Railway Journal July 24, 2023