Calgary/IBNS-CMEDIA: Canada and Alberta governments announced Sunday they will collaborate to explore high-speed rail connecting Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton, referring the initiative to the federal Major Projects Office alongside the existing Toronto-Quebec City high-speed rail effort.
The announcement was made by Eleanor Olszewski, federal Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, on behalf of Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and provincial Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen.
Under the collaboration, Canada and Alberta will set up a joint governance structure to guide planning and assess market interest, including potential market-sounding activities, and will engage Indigenous communities, municipalities, industry and the public as the work progresses.
Officials described it as complementing ongoing federal efforts to strengthen intercity passenger rail across the country.
“High-speed rail has great potential to reshape the way people move in Canada and supports Alberta’s economic growth, productivity, and regional connectivity,” MacKinnon said in a statement.
Smith called the project “a generational investment in Alberta’s future”, saying the province needs infrastructure to keep pace with its growth. Dreeshen said the Calgary-Red Deer-Edmonton corridor emerged as a priority for Albertans during the development of the province’s Passenger Rail Master Plan.
Dominic LeBlanc, president of the King’s Privy Council and minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade and intergovernmental affairs, said the Major Projects Office would help explore how to turn the initiative into “a transformative project for Alberta and for Canada.”
The federal-provincial collaboration comes as Alberta separately prepares to launch a formal Request for Proposal process this fall, inviting private-sector bidders to submit proposals for a high-speed rail line running from downtown Calgary to downtown Edmonton via Red Deer, with service to the province’s two largest airports and the city of Airdrie. Alberta expects to select a winning proponent by April 2027.
Officials said the Calgary-Edmonton corridor is Canada’s third-largest transportation corridor and that lessons from the more advanced Toronto-Quebec City high-speed rail project are expected to inform planning for the Alberta line.
(Reporting by Suman Das)
