The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (french: Ligne de Québec à Windsor), also known as simply the Corridor, is a
Via Rail passenger train service in the
Canadian provinces of
Quebec and
Ontario. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada and contributes 67% of Via's revenue.
History
Prior to Via's formation in 1978,
CN Rail
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...
operated its passenger trains, branded
Rapido, on the same tracks and
CP Rail also offered limited service.
High-speed proposal
During the 1970s and early 1980s, CN and later Via Rail operated the
Turbo Train on existing freight rail trackage. This equipment was later replaced by the
Bombardier LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) train sets. Beginning in the 1980s and through the 1990s, Via Rail, Bombardier and the provincial and federal governments studied the feasibility of establishing a dedicated
high-speed passenger rail network linking Quebec City–Montreal–Ottawa–Toronto–Windsor similar to the French
TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
as a means of reducing domestic air and highway travel between these destinations.
After a hiatus of ten years, a feasibility study on launching a high-speed rail service in the Corridor will be updated at the joint cost of the federal government, Ontario and Quebec. On November 14, 2011, the three governments officially released the final report of a high-speed rail study for this corridor.
2009–2010 improvements
In 2009–2010, Via used of government stimulus money to upgrade segments of the Corridor. Notable track improvements were of additional third main track in four segments, and a short segment of fourth main track, as well as additional yard tracks at three locations. Improvements were made to several stations along the line, with new station buildings constructed at
Belleville and
Cobourg
Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...
, and additional platforms for existing stations at
Brockville and
Oshawa
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...
. The improvements were planned to reduce delays along the route and to allow for a reduction in travel time of up to 30 minutes from end to end. They were intended to allow Via to introduce two new round-trip trains from Toronto to both Montreal and Ottawa without requiring the acquisition of new equipment.
Service
Inter-city rail
Inter-city service along the Corridor is provided by several different routes connecting the different cities served by the service. There is no single route that travels the entire length of the Corridor from Windsor to Quebec City. Via runs a mix of local-service and express trains in the Corridor. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada, with 36 Via trains traversing the route daily.
About 67% of Via's revenue comes from Corridor routes.
Via trains that start and end within the geographic region of the
Quebec City–Windsor Corridor
The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (french: link=no, Corridor Québec-Windsor) is the most densely populated and heavily industrialized region of Canada. As its name suggests, the region extends between Quebec City in the northeast and Windsor, ...
are branded as a part of the Corridor service. Other inter-city trains from outside the Corridor may have their terminus at stations in the Corridor, such as the ''
Canadian'' and the ''
Ocean'', but are marketed by their respective train names and are not considered to be Corridor services.
The ''
Maple Leaf'', a through service from Toronto to New York City, operated jointly with
Amtrak, is crewed by Via as trains 97 and 98 on VIA schedules, between Toronto and Niagara Falls, and can be considered part of Corridor services as well. It is the only scheduled rail service from the Corridor line from
Burlington
Burlington may refer to:
Places Canada Geography
* Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Burlington, Nova Scotia
* Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington"
* Burlington, Prince Edward Island
* Burlington Bay, no ...
to Niagara Falls.
Commuter rail
Two
commuter rail agencies,
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
and
Exo, share tracks with Via's Corridor trains. Both agencies are provincially funded and independent of Via.
* The GO Transit
Kitchener line
Kitchener is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends westward from Union Station in Toronto to Kitchener, though most trains originate and terminate in Brampton in off-peak h ...
shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from
Toronto Union Station to
Kitchener station
Kitchener station is a railway station located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building containing a waiting room and t ...
and a pilot to
London station.
* The GO Transit
Lakeshore West line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Bayview junction, just west of
Aldershot GO Station. The Lakeshore West line Niagara Branch shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from Toronto Union Station to
Niagara Falls.
* The GO Transit
Lakeshore East line shares tracks with Via trains from Toronto Union Station to Durham Junction, just west of
Pickering GO Station. Between Pickering and
Oshawa
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...
, GO trains use a separate parallel line immediately north of the CN/Via tracks.
* The Exo
Mont-Saint-Hilaire line shares tracks with Via trains for its entire route from
Montreal Central Station to
Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
* The Exo
Vaudreuil-Hudson line operates in the same corridor as Via trains from
Dorion to
Lachine, but does not share tracks with Via trains. Exo trains operate on CP tracks, while Via trains operate on parallel CN tracks.
Trackage
Most of the trackage that Via trains use along the Corridor is owned by the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
. Via owns three former freight lines long the Corridor, one from
Smiths Falls to
Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, via
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
; one from Smiths Falls to
Brockville; and one from
Chatham, Ontario, to
Windsor, Ontario.
Via Corridor trains run on three segments of tracks owned by
Metrolinx
Metrolinx is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), which comprises much of Ontario's Golden Horseshoe region. Headquartered at Union Sta ...
; one from
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...
, to
Pickering, Ontario
Pickering (2021 population 99,186) is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada, immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region.
Beginning in the 1770s, the area was settled by primarily ethnic British colonists. An increase in population occurre ...
; one from
Toronto Union Station to
Malton, Mississauga; and one from
Georgetown, Ontario
Georgetown is a large unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Halton. The town includes several small villages or settlements such as Norval, Limehouse, Stewarttown and Glen William ...
, to
Kitchener, Ontario.
The proposed High Frequency Rail plan calls for adding Corridor services between Toronto and Quebec City that run on newly constructed dedicated tracks.
Future
On July 6, 2021, Transportation Minister
Omar Alghabra announced that the federal government would launch the procurement process to build a high-frequency rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City by 2030.
The cost of the project is expected to be between and . The plan is to have trains travel up to on a line that would run from Toronto to Quebec City through
Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal,
Laval
Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of:
People
* House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne
* Laval (surname)
Places Belgium
* Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...
, and
Trois-Rivières.
As opposed to current operations along the Corridor, the trains would run on dedicated passenger tracks, improving service reliability since the trains would not have to compete with freight trains.
Service reliability could increase to 95 percent, up significantly from its current 67 percent.
Travel times are projected to decrease by 90 minutes on some routes, such as between Ottawa and Toronto. 90 percent of the route is planned to run on electricity.
The timing of the announcement was criticized as political, since there was speculation of a federal election being held later in the year, which was later confirmed on August 15.
See also
*
High-speed rail in Canada
Several plans have been proposed for high-speed rail in Canada, the only G7 country that does not have any high-speed rail. In the press and popular discussion, there have been two routes frequently proposed as suitable for a high-speed rail cor ...
*
Maple Leaf (Amtrak)
The ''Maple Leaf'' is an international passenger train service operated by Amtrak and Via Rail between Pennsylvania Station in New York City and Union Station in Toronto via the Empire Corridor. Daily service is offered in both directions; the t ...
*
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...
*
Quebec City–Windsor Corridor
The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (french: link=no, Corridor Québec-Windsor) is the most densely populated and heavily industrialized region of Canada. As its name suggests, the region extends between Quebec City in the northeast and Windsor, ...
*
Rail transport in Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
References
External links
Via Rail temporary train schedule with changes due to Covid 19 (Effective 17 May 2021)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Québec City-Windsor Corridor (Via Rail)
Via Rail routes
Passenger rail transport in Ontario
Passenger rail transport in Brantford
Passenger rail transport in Kitchener, Ontario
Passenger rail transport in Toronto
Passenger rail transport in Quebec