Key points:

Canada has proposed to build a High-Speed Rail (HSR) system connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec (altotrain.ca). This HSR will pass through our region on one of two proposed routes, expropriating and fragmenting private properties, including conservation lands.

The wall-like, fenced corridor that will accommodate the HSR presents an ecologically significant barrier to wildlife movement across the landscape. The HSR will impact waterways, wetlands, open areas (e.g., fields, alvars) and forests within its path.

The proposed southern route of ALTO includes the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve (FABR), an area that is internationally recognized with a UNESCO inscription as one of the globe’s biologically significant landscapes. This region also contains the Frontenac Forests Key Biodiversity Area (within FABR). Key Biodiversity Areas are nationally and globally recognized important areas for conservation (see map below).

The proposed ALTO route will fragment the last major north-south wildlife corridor in Eastern North America, the Adirondacks to Algonquin (A2A) wildlife corridor (see photo below).

There are no direct benefits to the rural communities where the HSR will pass through without stopping. Instead, communities, roads, farms, conservation areas and private properties will be fractured. The HSR will bisect marshes and wetlands, with the potential to alter drainage systems.

We believe there are alternatives for faster (but not HSR) passenger trains that would serve these communities and have the potential to benefit the environment by reducing car travel, while preserving conservation lands and other private properties.