As Alto moves forward with Canada’s first-ever high-speed rail network between Toronto and Quebec City, including a stop in Peterborough, the Crown corporation is committed to connecting with residents, listening closely to questions and concerns, and ensuring perspectives from Peterborough and communities across The Kawarthas inform every stage of planning.
That’s why Alto has launched an initial three-month public consultation process that includes a drop-in open house in Peterborough on Thursday, February 26 between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the McDonnel Street Community Centre at 577 McDonnel Street.
Meaningful community engagement
“This phase of Alto’s consultation is centred on engagement with the general public within the communities both around station stops and throughout the corridor, including a concentrated focus on engagement with Indigenous communities,” says Alto spokesperson Crystal Jongeward, adding that public consultations are “foundational to the project.”
Over the last two years, Alto’s community engagement efforts have included reaching out to governments, municipalities, public institutions, and Indigenous communities across the corridor in Ontario and Quebec, as well as offering delegations to elected officials, including to the municipal councils of the City of Peterborough, Peterborough County, and the City of Kawartha Lakes.
As for the initial three-month public consultation period that began on January 21, Jongeward calls it the “single largest public engagement undertaking” to date for the project. More than 20 open house sessions are planned in communities along the corridor between January and March, in addition to eight virtual meetings and a dedicated online information portal.
Alto’s first two open houses, held in Ottawa and Montreal on January 21 and 22, collectively saw more than 1,000 attendees.
What high-speed rail means for the future of Peterborough and The Kawarthas
Peterborough is one of seven stops along the corridor for the high-speed rail project, which is the largest public infrastructure project in Canada in recent history. When completed, the project will see trains reaching 300 km/h or more on an electrified rail network spanning around 1,000 kilometres between Toronto and Quebec City.
Locally, the transformational investment will not only make it possible to travel between Toronto and Peterborough in just 40 minutes, offering greater flexibility and quality of life for students and working professionals, but it will also boost economic prosperity in Peterborough and communities throughout The Kawarthas.
“We see the project as being an impetus for stimulating economic activity through the enhanced connectivity that Peterborough will have to a number of major economic hubs like Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal,” Jongeward explains.
While the project will drive economic growth by slashing travel times, enhancing connectivity, and creating job opportunities for all communities along the corridor, Jongeward notes it will also have a transformative impact on the visitor economy of Peterborough and The Kawarthas.
“With Algonquin Park nearby, hundreds of lakes, the whole Trent-Severn Waterway system, and everything going on in Peterborough from the Canadian Canoe Museum to Musicfest, high-speed rail means tourists will be able to access all these things with a much smaller time commitment than with the travel options we have today,” Jongeward says.
“When we think about tourism, especially in the summer, it’s a really attractive option for people who are visiting Toronto to hop on the train and go to cottage country in the Kawarthas in just 40 minutes on Alto. It means a lot for the economic impact on coffee shops, restaurants, and all the different spots people visit when they’re in a new city or town.”
What to expect at the February 26 open house in Peterborough
At the Peterborough open house on February 26, there will be a variety of booths set up to share stories of how high-speed rail will revolutionize mobility and quality of life across communities along the corridor.
Alto’s community engagement team will be available at the open house to share why high-speed rail is a ground-breaking project for Canada, what the project timeline looks like, how the trains will work, and how they will transform mobility between Toronto and Quebec City. Community members will also be able to meet experts from the Alto team who can speak to engineering, design, environmental consultations, and more.
Coffee and snacks will be available at the open house, as well as a supervised play area where parents can keep their children busy so they can focus on asking their questions and joining in on the conversations.
“We’re interested in discussing things like what connectivity means to the community,” says Jongeward. “For Peterborough, this means station locations and interconnectivity with local transit, and the route in and route out. None of that is decided, and a lot of community input that we gather will help inform those decisions as we go through the next three months of this public engagement.”
Alto team members will be taking notes on every conversation with community members and, when leaving the open house, attendees will have the option of completing an exit poll and also have further opportunities to share their feedback on Alto’s dedicated public engagement platform.
More options to provide your feedback
For those unable to attend the open house, Alto will also be hosting eight virtual sessions throughout the public engagement period. Upcoming virtual sessions will take place at noon on Friday, February 20 and at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 23, Tuesday, March 3, and Tuesday, March 17.
In addition to the open houses and virtual sessions, community members can also visit Alto’s online portal until March 29 to complete a survey, provide feedback on an interactive map, and submit a brief.
“All input will help us shape the rail network’s alignment, which will then be refined into a proposed alignment,” says Jongeward. “All ideas are welcome.”
What’s next?
Alto will aggregate all the feedback collected during the public consultation process and present it to the public this summer. A second round of public consultations will be held at a later time to review and refine the proposed rail alignment.
While Alto has confirmed that the Ottawa-Montreal corridor will be the first segment of the high-speed rail network, with construction set to begin at the end of the decade, the project is still in the development and pre-construction phase. Public consultations are an important milestone of this phase, providing local communities with the opportunity to help shape the project in partnership with Alto.
“Community input and feedback is key to this project because Alto is for Canadians by Canadians — it needs to reflect the communities that it’s serving from end to end,” Jongeward says. “We really look forward to seeing the people of Peterborough and the surrounding communities on February 26.”
For more information on Alto’s public consultation process, visit www.altotrain.ca/en/public-consultation. To stay informed about upcoming milestones and additional opportunities to engage, sign up for Alto’s monthly newsletter at www.altotrain.ca/en/stay-updated.
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