.🚄 Article 3: “The Long Track Ahead”

VIA Rail and the Montreal Dream

Union Station to Montreal by train is a five-hour meditation on motion. VIA Rail offers comfort, Wi-Fi, and the occasional glimpse of a deer wondering why humans move so slowly.

But the dream is bigger. The Canadian government has greenlit a $3.9 billion design phase for Alto, a high-speed rail project that could cut the trip to just three hours2. Trains would reach 300 km/h, gliding between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City on dedicated electric tracks.

The vision? A corridor of connectivity. A ribbon of velocity. A future where rail competes with air—not just in speed, but in soul.

Construction won’t begin until the design phase ends, possibly in 2030. But the blueprint is drawn. The tracks are imagined. The train is coming—eventually.