{"id":535657,"date":"2026-03-14T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535657\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:07:11","slug":"clarence-rockland-councillors-want-more-answers-on-proposed-high-speed-rail-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535657\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence-Rockland councillors want more answers on proposed high-speed rail network"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Councillors for a community east of Ottawa say they\u2019re left with more questions than answers about how the proposed Alto high-speed rail network will impact the municipality following a recent visit from the Crown corporation in charge of the project. <\/p>\n

The 1,000-kilometre rail network would stretch from Ottawa to Toronto, slashing travel time with electric trains reaching up to 300 km\/h.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Construction on the first leg between Montreal and Ottawa is expected to begin in 2029-30.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A final route hasn\u2019t been presented yet by Alto, but it has shared an interactive map<\/a> illustrating the boundaries of the corridor under study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Alto representatives took questions from councillors in Clarence-Rockland about the project, which isn\u2019t planned to offer any local stops in the municipality. Several councillors asked about land expropriation as well as road and trail network changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our goal was to put their feet to the fire and just get as much information as we possibly could, but also make them aware of all the things that we’re thinking of so that when they go back, they’re able to actually have those conversations,\u201d said Mayor Mario Zanth.<\/p>\n

\"Coun.Coun. Trevor Stewart said he was left with more questions than answers about the high-speed rail project after hearing from the Crown corporation overseeing it. (Nelly Alb\u00e9rola\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

But some members of council and a number of residents who attended the meeting left unsatisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come out of it a little bit frustrated and with a few more questions than I do have answers,\u201d said Coun. Trevor Stewart, who worries farmers will be disproportionately affected by the project. <\/p>\n

Local farmer Roman Kaelin worries people who have their land split won\u2019t receive compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s being kept quiet more so that there\u2019s less restriction or less resistance against the project,\u201d Kaelin said.<\/p>\n

Alto representatives respond<\/p>\n

Representatives from Alto told councillors the corporation will keep liaising with municipalities to understand how the project will affect people. Compensation for farmers and municipalities facing road and recreational trail changes will be considered, they added. <\/p>\n

Councillors were also reassured that land acquisitions would not begin before 2027, and that while expropriation is an option, negotiation with landowners would be the preferred approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Senate’s national finance committee earlier this week, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon stressed the urgency of obtaining royal assent for Bill C-15 to move forward with land acquisitions swiftly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is worrying when it comes to the overall organization of the project,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Alto\u2019s president and CEO said the corporation is aiming to share a detailed route by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

The total project is expected to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-535657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}