Via Rail's business case for a multibillion-dollar high-frequency-rail project between Toronto and Quebec City would receive a boost if it ditched the stretch from Montreal to Quebec City, internal federal documents say.
The memo's release comes as Via looks for financial support to build dedicated rail lines that will increase the frequency of trips, cut travel times and ensure its trains will no longer have to work around freight schedules on borrowed tracks.
A key to the project's eventual realization is finding a way to make the plan attractive to private-sector investors, whose support would build on public dollars. It estimated the capital costs of the project to total $4.4 billion, a tally that includes $1.14 billion for the leg between Montreal and Quebec City. Via might seek private investment to pull it off -- and will need to show potential investors that they'll make their money back and then some.
The Quebec City-Montreal-Ottawa service ran a deficit of nearly $24 million last year after an average of about 17,000 people rode its trains along that route each week. Siemiatycki said there are likely good arguments to be made for the project on environmental or social-connectivity grounds, but framing it as a good revenue-generating opportunity is harder.
In recent months, efforts have been made to make the high-frequency project more enticing for private investors.
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