Transport committee  If I may, I'd like to explain the difference in cost.

Transport committee  Perfect. The comparative analysis that was done considered the average cost to build high-speed rail elsewhere in the world and adapt everything to the Canadian system. It is therefore based on high-level studies.

Transport committee  As long as the information doesn't compromise the competitive process, we'll be able to send you the data.

Transport committee  Well, unfortunately, the reliability on those tracks has been going down. I will share the latest high-level figures that I'm aware of. Maybe Via Rail would be in a better position to have the exact figures. Our understanding is that on the tracks they own, which are mostly arou

Transport committee  It is, indeed. All around the world, when you see the best service, this is the key. If the passenger railway controls the track, then it is able to run services in certain places that are precise to the second. That makes a world of difference for the passenger experience.

Transport committee  Many of the members of the HFR team had the honour of also working on the Samuel De Champlain Bridge before. It was a very successful project. We are very humbled by the difficulty of delivering major infrastructure projects and the need to learn from all the best things that are

Transport committee  I'll start with some of the elements, and I'll invite my colleague Mr. Camiré to also provide some elements. At a high level, once the train goes faster than 200 kilometres per hour, the difference is that you need a fully protected right of way. This means that the tracks are

Transport committee  Yes, that is correct. To bring a bit of context, from 2018 to 2021, during the due diligence phase, a joint project office composed of the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Via Rail did studies on the project. That was a continuation of this work that was done. At that point, it wa

Transport committee  The primary contractor is a joint venture between Arup and Aecom, which are architecture and engineering firms.

Transport committee  That's correct. The money was used to continue those contracts through the transition. Now all of this work is done by the new Crown corporation, Via HFR Inc. That was a temporary measure until the Crown corporation was created.

Transport committee  It was to prepare the procurement that we launched this year. It was all the technical work that needed to be made available to bidders for the RFP process that is ongoing right now.

Transport committee  Yes, this was to prepare.... We're talking about 1,000 kilometres of new tracks. Various elements of the work were necessary to provide the information for our bidders to be able to bid on this project.

Transport committee  Again, this work is essential on a major project like this. It is to provide all of the information about the nature of the lines, the rights of way that are available and the types of technologies that can be considered. All of this work represents hundreds of documents that h

Transport committee  Basically, that contract is a joint venture between two large architectural and engineering companies. One of them is Arup, and the other one is Aecom. They were jointly responsible for preparing the work.

Transport committee  Those figures are accurate. Again, given the size and scope of this project, those numbers are what would be expected.