Introduction

The Quebec City-Windsor Corridor (QCWC) has a population of over 18 million and is a major economic centre in Canada [5]. For these reasons, High Speed Rail (HSR) has been considered as an alternative to existing air and land routes for the corridor since the 1970s with a major feasibility study published in 1995 [5]. Population estimates show that by 2041 the population in the corridor will rise to over 26 million [5]. In addition, the current Liberal federal government has pledged $125 billion to infrastructure in the next 10 years [6]. This shows that infrastructure development in the next few years will be critical as Canada has a rising population and funds will be available. In this light, HSR should be built along the QCWC …show more content…
This is important for the Canadian economy since it is floundering with unemployment rates increasing and a bleak outlook as growth estimates were recently downgraded from 1.6% to 1.4% [15][16]. Economic feasibility studies estimate that a QCWC HSR would cost $23.9 billion with over $500 million in annual maintenance costs (using adjusted 2009 values) [17][5]. While costly, the system would generate over $1 billion in annual revenues to start, and by 2031 would have over $1.2 billion in annual profits. [18]. In addition, over $750 million in savings will be generated in other sectors by considering economics associated with reducing atmospheric emissions and improving public safety [5]. VIA Rail’s services can also be disbanded in the corridor (due to lack of need) with their workers transitioning into the HSR system, saving over $300 million since their annual government subsidies would be cut [19]. Finally, HSR would boost Canadian companies such as the financially struggling Bombardier (who has received over $1.1 billion in government aid since 1982) who has expertise in building HSR trains [20][21]. The government could then cut aid to companies like Bombardier while providing engineering and manufacturing jobs [20]. In all, the construction of HSR along the QCWC is essential to end unprofitable companies like VIA Rail, make companies like Bombardier profitable, and to provide jobs, all while providing revenue that would eventually pay the project off. In this light, the cost of doing nothing is greater than building HSR since this will result in monetary losses, while in the long term HSR will be