The Alto High Speed Rail Line Is More Than An Idea, And It's Eastern Ontario Corridor Tilts North

(Update to this story. On Friday, the government of Canada said that the first section of the high speed network to commence construction will be the connection between Ottawa, Laval and Montreal - and that construction is targeted for 2029 - the headline for this article, which was posted on Thursday, has been changed from "Alto Is Still Only An Idea ..." to the one that now appears above)

Over the past few weeks, Alto officials have paid courtesy calls to both Addington Highlands and North Frontenac.

Joel Wiebe, the Alto rep who brought the same presentation to both council tables, said that the process for deciding the path of the train through Eastern Ontario from Ottawa to Peterborough, is just getting underway, and a decision is some way off.

Alto reps made a presentation in South Frontenac last week, so a southern route would not seem to be out of the question. But even during that presentation, members of South Frontenac Council said they expect the route will run north of 7, and lamented the fact that the Kingston region is being bypassed.

When asked about the corridor, the Alto reps indicated that some time in 2026 there will be details released about the specific route.

While nothing has been decided yet, the fact that the first townships that Alto approached in our region, were north of Highway 7, does not seem to be a coincidence.

As Wiebe pointed out in his presentations, the priority will be to come up with a straight route since the high speed trains can only turn gradually, and the priority of the entire rail project is the time it takes to complete each leg of the journey.

The basic tenet, 'A straight line is the shortest distance between two points', springs to mind. A straight line between Ottawa and Peterborough, where the train is destined to have a stop, runs through North Frontenac and Addington Highlands.

Presumably another factor in the decision-making will be to avoid crossing larger lakes, because that means long bridges. When you draw a line between Ottawa and Peterborough, it crosses Road 509 between Snow Road and Ompah, and could then run between Kashwakamak and Mississagagon Lakes, sort of where the Hydro Corridor and Road 506 run, then through Addington Highlands between Cloyne and Northbrook.

A more northern route is also possible, running north of Maznaw Lake, but it would have to shift in a southern direction on its way to Peterborough.

Nothing was said at either meeting about expropriations, and the impact on people and property that is in the way, but that is because it is understood that the train will have complete priority, over-riding all local concerns.

There is an alternate scenario however, and whether it is realistic or not depends on how far Alto has gone in their planning.

A question was raised at one of the meetings about the proposed Alto stop in Laval, the island off Montreal.

Why would a train whose goal is to connect urban centres (Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto) stop in Laval? Thousands of people travel from Laval to Montreal at all times of the day and night, and facilitating that travel is a commuter issue.

The answer to the question was instructive. When Alto was established it was given a prime directive: build a rail line that stops at 7 places, Quebec, Trois Rivieres, Laval, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto.

The Peterborough stop is similar. Peterborough is on the Go Train network, and is slowly being swallowed up by Toronto as it is, but a Peterborough stop is included.

At one time, the high frequency rail project included stops in Sharbot Lake and Tweed, as we all remember. But that went by the wayside when things got more serious. The train needs to be fast in order to become the best and easiest mode of transportation between major centres, to compete with air travel. Perhaps in a year or two, Laval and Peterborough will be bypassed just as Sharbot Lake and Tweed have been.

Another interesting aspect of Alto is that, because it is a federal project, consultation with indigenous communities is a higher priority than consultation with municipal governments. The Federal government has a direct relationship with Indigenous communities, and only an indirect relationship with local municipalities. Municipalities are an extension of the province from the federal point of view, and the Province of Ontario would benefit from this massive federal infrastructure project, so they are on board.

Here again, there is an indication that, if the train comes through, it will be through North Frontenac. Alto met with the Snimikobe First Nation, at a meeting at the Clar-Mil Hall in Plevna, in September, well before appearing before Peterborough City Council. Interestingly, even though Alto has been in constant communication with the Shabot Obaadjiwan, based near Sharbot Lake, they met with the Snimikobe membership, who are more North Frontenac-based.

Just because $3.9 billion has been allocated to this project already, it is not even close to a given that anything will be built within the next 10-15 years.

The Alto people say they are on a 4-6 year timeline before the start of construction, which seems fast, but they also say that their job is to bring the project to the point where construction will, or will not, get funded. And funding it will require a lot of federal money and a lot of of private money as well, many tens of billions

And given the way politics work, it will also need to be coming forward at the right time, when it fits the agenda of the federal government of the day.