I have a couple of points I would suggest. One is that the Air Rail Link, we believe, is a very important project for the regional economy. It is part of the Big Move. When we look at cities around the world, especially global cities that have a financial services core, we see that an air-rail link between their downtown area and their international airport is critical. It is a common element and is something that we're missing in the Toronto region.
About 5 million trips occur every year between downtown Toronto and Pearson airport. Right now, the only choice is getting into a car, taxi, or limousine. We're going to be providing a reliable alternative choice for the first time, which is going to take a lot of cars off the road. We think it's a really great project.
In terms of electrification, we did do a very comprehensive study of the alternative ways we could look at electrification of the entire network. We took a report to our board of directors that recommended we look at the electrification of what we call the Lakeshore corridor in the Toronto region and the Georgetown quarter, which would include the Air Rail Link.
The board endorsed that strategy. We got an endorsement from the province to start the environmental assessment work for the electrification of the first step, which is the Air Rail Link. We would anticipate that, subject to subsequent funding decisions, we could move to electrify the Air Rail Link in about seven years, but it's a long-term process to electrify an entire system.
There could very well be a role for the federal government in terms of participating in the process of electrification of the GO Transit rail network.
The key thing is to get through the environmental assessment process first and get an endorsement that this is a project that we're going to pursue in terms of the Air Rail Link. Then that would be a good time to be looking for partners with regard to how we might deliver on that project.