Martin Imbleau, president and CEO of Alto, takes part in an announcement about the next steps for high-speed rail in Gatineau, Que., in, December, 2025.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Matti Siemiatycki is the director of the Infrastructure Institute and professor of planning at the University of Toronto. He hosts the Good for Cities podcast.

After decades of false starts and misfires, the stars finally seem to be aligned for high-speed rail in Canada.

The federal government has formed a Crown corporation named Alto to lead the 1,000-kilometre project stretching from Toronto to Quebec City, and selected the private partner that will plan and build the line.

At a jubilant news conference in December, it was announced that the first leg of high-speed rail will be built in a 200-kilometre stretch between Montreal and Ottawa.

However, at the moment, Canadian high-speed rail is as much a project as it is a blank cheque.

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The price tag for the entire project is estimated at $60-billion to $90-billion, a wide range with few specifics provided.

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