Canada Begins Procurement Process For High Frequency Rail Project
Oct 18, 2023| Canada’s Minister for Transport Pablo Rodriguez has moved forward with plans for the High Frequency Rail (HFR) project to build a new passenger rail line between Québec City and Toronto with the launch of the procurement process.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) process, which will be ongoing until the middle of 2024, is looking for a private developer to work on the “largest Canadian infrastructure project in generations” which will include trains that can reach speeds of up to 200 km/h, 40km/h faster than Canada’s passenger rail service’s existing trains, and high-speed segments of track for faster travel.
Rodriguez said the launch of the process marked a significant milestone: “In the future, more Canadians will choose to travel by rail because the HFR will lead to faster train journeys, more frequent departures and greener travel.
“I look forward to seeing how the teams participating in this process will approach the challenge of connecting communities, honouring Indigenous Reconciliation and improving travel in the Québec City to Toronto corridor.”
The beginning of the RFP process follows a previous Request for Qualifications process that closed in April 2023 and saw three bidding teams approved by the Canadian Government as qualified to respond to the RFP.
Those three successful teams included Cadence, a partnership between CDPQ Infra, SNC Lavalin, Systra Canada and Keolis Canada as well as QCONNEXION RAIL Partners, consisting of Fengate, John Laign, Bechtel, WSP and Deutsche Bahn.