Kingston probably getting high

Kingston probably getting high-speed rail stop, says Alto CEO

Martin Imbleau tells CBC News public feedback was persuasive

The CEO of the Crown corporation planning the high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City says Kingston, Ont., will probably get a stop because of public feedback asking for it.

Martin Imbleau told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Wednesday a stop there is "doable," ridership is expected to be strong and that a stop there makes a lot of sense.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said last month his office is "going to take a very, very, long, strong and positive look" at the possibility of including Kingston in the future of Canada's first high-speed rail line.

MacKinnon said Kingston is the fourth-busiest Via Rail station in the country, and services in and out of the city can become "a feeder" of the high-speed rail network. He said a Kingston Alto stop would be widely used by students at Queen's University.

The proposed line — which Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to start building in four years — was announced late last year with planned stops in Trois-Rivières, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough.

While there has been some loud opposition from people living along the proposed route worried about what it will mean to their land and communities, the mayors for Kingston and the Township of South Frontenac have taken a different position.

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Alto first proposed two routes. One is an essentially straight line between Peterborough and Ottawa. The second is a southern track that dips to within a half-hour's drive of downtown Kingston.

The two mayors met in March to voice support for a third scenario that would see the track for the Alto rail line run further south — along the Highway 401 corridor — and stop in Kingston.

The 1,000-kilometre rail line, using all-electric trains reaching speeds of 300 km/h, is expected to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called for the government to cancel the project entirely.

He said last month it would be smarter to spend the money being used for high-speed rail on cutting taxes, including the GST paid on used cars bought through dealerships.

"If this project ever gets built it will be 15 years from now and it will cost every family $8,000 in higher taxes," Poilievre said. "It won't take a single car off the road, it will just take passengers out of airplanes."

With files from CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning