The Canadian government has announced plans for a high-speed train between Québec City and Toronto, CBC News reported.
The project, when completed, will allow Canadians and visitors to travel between the two cities in a scant three hours, as opposed to the five-and-a-half hours the trip takes by car, all while having less of a negative impact on the health of our planet.
In order to achieve speeds of roughly 186 miles per hour — double the speed of the trains currently run by Via Rail, Canada’s national transportation agency — the new train will run on a newly built electrified track. The government has not yet announced when it expects the line to be completed.
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Pierre Barrieau, a lecturer in transportation planning at the Université de Montréal and consultant at Gris Orange, told CBC News a high-frequency train that didn’t offer a significant improvement in travel time wouldn’t have been “a transformation in mobility.”
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“We’re building a project like this for [the next] 150 years,” he said. “Canada deserved better than a high-frequency train.” He added the line could help pay for itself by reducing the need to build new highways and airports.
Studies have shown trains — especially those that run on electrified tracks — produce the smallest amount of planet-overheating air pollution per passenger when compared to cars and airplanes.
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In addition, people tend to enjoy riding in trains much more than they like driving themselves or going through security and being squashed into an airplane seat. In countries with robust high-speed rail systems — most notably China, but also others — tourists are constantly making glowing TikTok videos about what an easy, nice time they had zipping between cities.
Canadian transit advocates hope this high-speed line is the first of many for the country. The hope is that “once you finally get it somewhere, another corridor all of a sudden springs up,” said Paul Langan, founder of the High Speed Rail Canada advocacy group.
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