ONTARIO/QUEBEC RAPID TRAIN TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT

In June 1989, Premier David Peterson of Ontario and Premier Robert Bourassa of Quebec announced their intention to establish a Task Force to explore the feasibility of a high speed passenger rail service in the Ontario/Quebec corridor. The Premiers indicated they expected the Task Force to examine in depth the political, economic, financial and marketing pre-feasibility of a high speed passenger rail system between Quebec City and Windsor, Ontario, via Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. An eight-member Task Force was appointed. The Task Force's research work, its extensive public consultation and its investigation of systems elsewhere, together form the most thorough review to date of high speed rail in the Ontario/Quebec corridor. In this report, the different chapters describe the circumstances of the Windsor-Quebec corridor and the alternative options available for the development of a high speed rail system. The consequent costs and revenues and the likely performance of the alternatives are considered. Chapter 1 describes the demographic, physical, and economic elements of the Windsor-Quebec corridor and illuminates certain corridor facts. It emphasizes the volume of intercity trips, looks at the market shares of competing modes, and defines the transportation problems. Chapter 2 is a summary of the findings from the Public Consultation Process. Chapter 3 describes the high speed train technologies and explains the socioeconomic and other characteristics which led to their installation and to their success. Chapter 4 outlines the basic issues and parameters of the Task Force research work. It describes the basic technological choices and deals with market forecasts. It describes the demand models used and compares the results with the forecast of others. It describes the alternative operational strategies and associated costs of investment, operation and maintenance of a high speed train in the Windsor-Quebec corridor. It also examines the financial viability of the project and determines the financial attractiveness of each option. It deals with socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Chapter 5 describes federal, Ontario, and Quebec environmental assessment procedures. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the observations and findings of this study and the recommendations of the Task Force.

• Corporate Authors:

  Premier of Ontario

  Legislative Building, Queen's Park
  Toronto, ONo M7A 1A1,   Canada 

  Premier of Quebec

  Edifice J, 885 Grande-Allee Est
  Quebec, Quebec G1A 1A2,   Canada 
• Publication Date: 1991-5-31

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: v.p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Committees; Costs; Environmental impacts; Feasibility analysis; Financial analysis; Forecasting; High speed rail; Magnetic levitation; Maintenance practices; Market share; Public opinion; Recommendations; Socioeconomic factors; Technology assessment; Transportation corridors; Urban growth
• Uncontrolled Terms: Operation and maintenance; Task force
• Geographic Terms: Ontario (Province); Quebec (Canada)
• Old TRIS Terms: Urban corridors
• Subject Areas: Economics; Environment; Finance; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Research; Society; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00621712
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1992 12:00AM