Lesson #1 from Canada – A National Passenger Operator
- Ross Lowrey
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
Canada’s approach to implement high speed rail further demonstrates why we need a national passenger rail operator in Australia
Canada’s decision to build a high speed rail network addresses very similar population distribution and distances as the Melbourne to Newcastle corridor. But their approach to build the rail line is very different to ours.
The first major difference is that Canada’s high speed rail authority (ALTO) was drawn from its national passenger rail operator. This is significant because ALTO starts with long experience and expertise in delivering rail passenger services in Canada, and further, it has been investigating ways to deliver faster and better passenger services for nearly a decade.
Canada’s national passenger rail operator is VIA Rail Canada. It was established in 1977 as a crown corporation to provide intercity rail services across Canada. It took over passenger services from both the Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) railways to become Canada’s first national passenger rail company. Its mandate is to operate national passenger rail services on behalf of the Government of Canada, offering intercity rail services and ensuring rail transportation services to regional and remote communities.
VIA Rail first proposed a High Frequency Rail (HFR) project to the Government of Canada to overcome the constraints of operating on freight corridors in the Toronto-Quebec City corridor in 2016. The project’s objective was to offer a faster, more frequent, accessible, and sustainable rail services in the most densely populated region of the country.
In 2022, VIA’s HFR project was spun-off as a separate, independent crown corporation and re-named as ALTO. Its role is to be the project authority that oversees and manages the implementation and delivery of the high speed rail network on behalf of the government. Its mandate is to provide strategic leadership, set project goals, manage risks, and coordinate with government agencies, private partners, and communities to ensure smooth execution of the project.
Here in Australia we have state-based operators of intercity trains. This arrangement is buried in our constitution, where the federal government can only provide rail services if the relevant states request the federal government to provide them. Which has resulted in regional passenger services very much focused on each capital city.
We have to break this myopic approach. It should start by forming a high speed rail authority that includes representation from each state (at least NSW, Vic and Qld). And it should draw its staff from the state-based operators to ensure it has right expertise and experience of regional passenger services in Australia (such as they are). And, as we recommend in our paper, it should start delivering national passenger rail services now – so that it gains the experience and has the incentive to deliver the quality of services we need here in Australia.