Wynne to announce plans for high-speed rail from Toronto to Windsor

The Ontario government will announce Friday it's moving ahead with planning a high-speed rail line from Toronto to Windsor, CBC News has learned.

Senior Liberal sources told CBC Newsthe government will begin preliminary design work for the 350-kilometrelink and invest $15 million in a comprehensiveenvironmental assessment.

Premier Kathleen Wynne will make the announcement in London on Friday morning, flanked by Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and Deputy Premier Deb Matthews. Then she'll travel to Kitchenerto make the same announcement at noon.

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The project would use a combination of existing track and new rail lines dedicated to the high-speed train, officials told CBC News. It would include stops in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London and Chatham, and connectto Toronto Pearson International Airport.

On Friday, Wynne will make public a reportfrom the government's special adviser on high-speed rail, David Collenette, a former federal minister of transportation.

Officials who have seen the report say it concludesthere is a business case for high-speed rail along the Toronto-Windsor corridor and concludes there are opportunities for private-sector participation in financing and building it.

$55Mper km

The reportrecommendsa railway that could carry trains travelling 250 km/h and could be builtat an estimated $55 million per kilometre, which would mean an approximate total cost of$19billion.The report also examines a scenario for trains capable of travelling 300 km/h, but it would cost nearly three times as much ($149 million per km).

Collenetteproposes building the railway in phases, completing the Toronto to London section by 2025 and London to Windsor by 2031.

The report says high-speed rail "would also create opportunities for regional development, help shape transportation planning in cities and towns throughout the corridor, and improve interconnectivity and mobility options across Southwestern Ontario," according to an excerpt provided to CBC News.

The government willcreatean arm's-length Crown agency to oversee the project, said officials. They also said the comprehensive environmental assessment will start this year but will take four to six years to complete.

A previous feasibility study for high-speed rail focused just on the Toronto-London corridor. Documents obtained by CBC News at the time put the infrastructure cost at $2.5 billion, and envisioned a one-hour, 11-minute trip from London to Toronto, carrying six million passengers a year by 2025.

Ontario's high-speed rail promises

Just days before the 2014 provincial election campaign, the Wynne Liberals trotted out a promise to deliverhigh speed rail service connecting Toronto, Pearson airport,Kitchener and London within 10 years.The then-minister of transportation, Glen Murray, indicated the service would run up to 28 times a day in each direction.

Soonafter the election, the high-speed rail project slowed tochoo-choospeed.The Liberals started hedging on the promise, refusing to commit to a timeline.

Documents obtained by CBC Kitchenerrevealedthat the study underpinning the Liberal promise was rushed to be ready in time for the campaign, with the consultant surveyingthe route using GoogleEarth instead of from the ground.

In the fall of 2014, the Wynne government ordered an environmental assessment for high-speed rail corridor, then in October2015, appointed Collenetteas a special adviser on the topic. "Bringing high-speed rail to Ontario remains a steadfast commitment of our government," Del Ducasaid at the time.

The government has had Collenette's report for months, but is only making it public now.

Last month's 2017 provincial budget includeda mere three sentences about high-speed rail.