Is the Wait for High-Speed Rail in Canada Finally Over! Will the decades of false hopes finally be over, and we finally see high-speed rail in Canada? Twenty-five studies and 40 years of federal government politicians have come and gone, and no action has been taken. I remember in 2009 when I went to Ottawa to speak at the Canadian Government Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities hearings on high-speed rail in Canada. I also went to Alberta to promote the Edmonton-Calgary high-speed rail proposal. Sadly, the events of 2009 did not differ from those before and after. Now, perhaps the time has come for high-speed rail in our country. I admit I was more than skeptical about this plan when former VIA Rail CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, now a Siemens Canada employee, first promoted the idea of high-frequency trains at traditional speeds. Desjardins-Siciliano continues to promote their Venture trains for the proposed high-frequency rail line, regardless of the real

The long-promised book by High-Speed Rail Canada founder Paul Langan, on the history of Bombardier's JetTrain, will now be released on December 2nd, 2024.  What can we learn from the failed attempt to have high-speed trains in Canada and USA in the early 2000's? What has changed and what challenges still remain in 2024? Author Paul Langan, does a historical review of newspaper accounts from that time as well as an interview with Lecia Stewart, who was Bombardier’s Vice-President of High-Speed Rail at the time of the JetTrain project. It will be available worldwide on Amazon.  

  Air Canada on July 24th, 2024 announced that it has joined the Cadence team, which has submitted a response to the request for proposals for the High Frequency Rail project. Their late entry into this process has raised concerns among the public.  Air Canada is in direct competition to whoever operates the high-frequency rail line. It is costly and inconvenient to fly.  A frequent passenger rail service on dedicated track going over 225 kilometers per hour, would pose a threat to Air Canada's business. Air Canada has a long and well documented history of protesting against any publically funded Canadian high-speed rail proposals. In 1991 and 1996, Air Canada teamed up with C.P. Rail, to do Joint Studies of High Speed Rail Ridership & Revenues to try and prevent high-speed initiatives in Canada at the time. In 2003, the Air Transport Association of Canada, an association Air Canada is part of, was against the government funding the high-speed JetTrain that was proposed for 2 l

  Il s'agit d'un changement de comportement intéressant de la part d'Air Canada. Lire l'article. LINK.

Putting on the new VIA Rail TurboTrain livery - HSRC Collection On July 10th, 2024, VIA Rail released a publicity campaign for their Windsor to Quebec City corridor new train sets. The Siemens Venture trains, powered by Siemens Charger locomotives, will be fully in service across the entire corridor by the fall of this year. High Speed Rail Canada salutes VIA Rail’s acknowledgement of its past train, the TurboTrain in their new livery of the Lumi. According to the VIA Rail press release, Introducing Lumi, the unique train of its new Corridor fleet, which bears VIA Rail’s classic monochrome yellow all while keeping the signature linear lines of the new trains. Lumi will be the only new train (Simple and efficient, the monochrome yellow, our brand’s signature colour) with this unique exterior design and acts as a reminder of the beginning of a new era for passenger rail. As others have done when introducing a new fleet, VIA Rail wanted to make a strong gesture by differentiating one of

  On July 10th, 2024, VIA HFR, a federal Crown corporation created in November 2022, had its inaugural Annual Public Meeting (APM). The meeting was bilingual format and it was webcast. The video will be loaded soon and High Speed Rail Canada will let have a link to it and let their followers know where to view it. The meeting featured key presentations from members of the Board of Directors and the CEO. The meeting began with Robert Prichard, Chair of the Board, who outlined the mandate given to VIA HFR by the Government of Canada to create a new passenger rail service linking Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto. He highlighted the significant progress made in the first year, including the formation of a talented management team and strong financial backing from the federal government. Marie-José Nadeau, Vice Chair of the Board, discussed the recruitment efforts to build VIA TGF’s leadership team and emphasized the project’s positive impact o