What Would You Do with a Few Extra Hours During the Holidays?

Published on December 9, 2025

Holiday

Two hours and a half. That’s roughly the amount of time you can save by taking Alto’s high-speed rail to visit your family in Ottawa from Toronto.

Looking to schedule a trip with friends or a romantic getaway in Montreal? You can get there about two hours faster than driving down from Toronto, all while minimizing your greenhouse gas emissions! Not to mention avoiding all those security checks and queues you’d face at an airport.

What would you do with that extra time? Read on to find out what a few of our colleagues at Alto had to say.

Our colleagues’ ideas on how to pass the time during the holidays

Jack Vincent

Business Intelligence Analyst

My Aunt Leslie, who lives in Toronto, makes incredible blueberry jam. If I had an extra two hours with her, I’d help her whip up a batch so I can enjoy even more on my toast!

Myriam Langlois

Director, Ridership and Revenue

If I could shave nearly four hours on my return trip to Toronto after family reunions in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, I’d spend more time with family and friends, either by snowshoeing through the woods on enjoy one more dinner before leaving.

Johanne Roberge

Language Advisor

If I could arrive a little earlier at my mom’s home in Montreal, I’d take the opportunity to stop by a bookstore to find some French-language books, which are hard to find in Toronto. That way I could read on the way back home!

Alto isn’t just the largest infrastructure project in the past decades or the country’s first high-speed rail network. It’s a project that will improve the quality of life of the 17 million Canadians who live in the Toronto-Quebec City corridor.