Technically the headline is wrong. In fact, it’s just wrong, period. The proposed trains would operate at around 115 t0 120 mph. That is somewhat behind Acela and it is only a bit quicker that service that existed in the 1960’s when I once rode the line. Still, modern fast trains are an asset. The story is in the Montreal Gazette.
The long-discussed idea of building a high-speed train between Quebec City and Montreal will become a reality in the coming months, predicts the new president of the chamber of commerce here.
“The timing for a project like this is perfect,” said Daniel Denis, a Quebec City native and architect who took over as head of the 198-year-old association in June.
“There is growing concern for the environment (and) a need to improve our transportation links with the outside world.”
Denis told 450 members of the local business community at Château Frontenac this week that he would devote his year-long tenure to the promotion of the high-speed train project .
A proposal put forward at a business forum this spring called for the construction of a high-speed rail line along the north shore of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers between Quebec City and the national capital via Montreal.
Unlike the $11-billion project for a 320-km/h train in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor that was proposed by a Canadian consortium that included SNC-Lavalin that failed to win federal approval, Denis said the Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa line would feature a more practical, albeit slower, model of train that would move passengers and freight at speeds of between 180 and 200 km/h.
Filed under: International High Speed Rail
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