VIA High Frequency Rail

[Innsertnamehere]

The distance is about 340 miles - perhaps you got the two confused.

Current scheduled times for VIA are about 4:45 for the fastest trip, though it’s usually slower, and is late more often than it is on time as a result of freight train delays.

Historically VIA managed to operate a few 4:00 trips using tilting LRC trains, but those haven’t operated in several decades.

HFR as it stands today apparently plans for a much more consistent 4:00 trip time, with a max speed of 200km/h (125mph). The infrastructure minister, apparently on the prompting of bidders, is now also asking for options for higher speeds, which will likely result in even shorter travel times. Exactly what that looks like we have yet to see. We also do not know if that option will even be chosen.

Previous studies for High Speed Rail in the corridor have identified travel times of around 2.5 hours if Canada was to go the “full HSR” route like California is attempting. This will likely not happen. If we do get speeds higher than 200km/h in the final design, I would still be surprised if we get travel times better than 3.5 hours.