Simply put, the existing rail corridors in the Québec City–Toronto corridor were not designed for high‑speed trains and cannot support the speeds, reliability, or safety standards needed to operate them.
Why Alto needs dedicated tracks
In Canada, almost all the existing rail corridors are shared between freight trains and conventional passenger rail trains. As well, they were designed decades ago to meet freight operating needs and conventional passenger service — not for sustained high‑speed travel.
Freight trains are slower, longer, and heavier, and have different track requirements than passenger trains. While today’s passenger trains operate safely, sharing the tracks can make it very challenging to provide fast, frequent, and reliable passenger service.
From the start, high‑speed rail corridors are designed specifically for fast, stable travel. Carefully planned routes, that include elements like gentle grades and curves, allow trains to operate safely and reliably at high speeds over long distances.
High-speed rail also needs its own dedicated infrastructure. That’s why building new, purpose designed corridors is essential to delivering the speed, reliability, and safety people expect from true high-speed rail.