Premier Kathleen Wynne was at Info-Tech in London today to highlight Ontario’s historic investment to build a high speed rail line along the Toronto-Windsor corridor that will connect communities and create jobs and economic growth across Southwestern Ontario.
As announced in the 2018 Budget, the government will make an initial investment of more than $11 billion to support construction of Phase One of the project between Toronto and London. Canada’s first high speed rail line — the largest new investment in the Budget — will slash travel times in half along the corridor, offer people a convenient new travel option that will reduce carbon emissions, while creating new opportunities for workers, businesses and anyone traveling in this part of Ontario.
Electric-powered trains will move at speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour on a combination of existing track and new dedicated rail corridors. The high speed trains will dramatically reduce travel times — to an estimated 73 minutes between London and Toronto Union Station. This will give people a faster and greener way to get around, and will help businesses attract talented workers from across a wider area.
This project is one in a series of major investments Ontario is making to build and expand public transit and transition to a low-carbon innovation economy. These investments include the transformational GO Regional Express Rail (RER) project, which will introduce all-day, two-way service every 15 minutes across the GO rail network, with electrified service on core segments, including the Union Pearson Express. Weekly trips across the entire GO rail network will grow from about 1,500 to nearly 6,000 by 2025.
Building high speed rail is part of the government’s plan to support care, create opportunity and make life more affordable during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes free prescription drugs for everyone under 25, and 65 or over, through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, and easier access to affordable child care.
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