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2mo ago

Canada Directs Alto to Study Kingston Stop on Southern High-Speed Rail Route

The move signals a shift toward a southern corridor that will trigger months of technical, environmental and Indigenous study before a final alignment is chosen.

A wholly owned subsidary of Via Rail, Alto, has been mandated to develop the Liberal government's high-speed rail project that Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to begin building in just four years.
Alto high-speed rail chief executive officer Martin Imbleau on Monday, June 22, 2026 in Kingston, Ont.
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Transport Steven MacKinnon leaves the podium after speaking with reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, June 18, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The entire rail project is estimated to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion.

Overview

  • Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon directed Alto on Monday to develop a plan assessing a southern alignment between Peterborough and Ottawa that could add Kingston as a potential stop, subject to technical feasibility and project requirements.
  • Alto published a What We Heard report summarizing public and Indigenous consultations from October 2025 through June 2026 and said feedback from those engagements influenced the decision to study the Kingston option.
  • Federal officials and Alto say a Kingston stop would cut Kingston-to-Toronto travel to about 90 minutes and widen the project’s catchment area to serve tens of thousands more riders across eastern Ontario.
  • Critics and experts warned that each additional stop can add roughly 15 to 30 minutes to end-to-end travel, raise construction and land- acquisition costs, and increase the risk of expropriations and local environmental impacts.
  • Alto must now complete detailed ridership, alignment and mitigation studies, proceed through Impact Assessment and further Indigenous and public consultations, and will present a narrower alignment later this year with early procurement steps planned to start this year and phased construction targeted for 2029–2030.