On March 19, Martin Imbleau, President and CEO of Alto, the Crown Corporation established to carry out the Quebec City to Toronto high speed rail project signed the Pre-Development Agreement with the Cadence Consortium led by CDPQ. The execution of the PDA marked the end of the procurement phase of the project. The parties have now embarked on a multi-year Co-Development Phase in which they will carry out project structuring, design and development activities before entering into a long-term Network Agreement for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the new high speed passenger rail system along the 1,000km Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto corridor.
Led by Ian Bendell of DLA Piper’s Toronto office, DLA has been involved since the early stages of the project, which started life more than five years ago as a joint venture between VIA Rail and Canada Infrastructure Bank, initially considering early-stage feasibility and de-risking activities for a high frequency passenger rail project. DLA later advised the Technical Office of VIA HFR and then acted as special counsel to Alto during the procurement process run by Public Services and Procurement Canada.
DLA has advised on many different aspects of the project, including de-risking strategies, the establishment of the staged structure for the project, reviewing and commenting on iterative drafts of the PDA and bidders’ comments on the same, advising on specific technical issues relating to rail access, rail safety and rail regulatory matters, participating in the procurement phase of the project, reviewing and negotiating contractual documentation and advising the newly established Crown Agency, now known as Alto, on various matters including Impact Assessment, Indigenous Consultation, Canada Transportation Act issues, proposals to amend or introduce new legislative and regulatory measures, assisting in operational readiness activities, advising on permits, licences and approvals, host railway considerations, procurement phase support activities, dispute resolution and establishing a data room relating to VIA Rail information.
The DLA team supported the Alto legal team under Felix Turgeon, the Alto commercial team under Jacynthe Audette and the Alto technical team previously under Graeme Hampshire and now led by Maria Luisa Dominguez. This multidisciplinary Alto team oversaw the announcement of the project in February and the successful execution of the Pre-Development Agreement on March 19. DLA looks forward to continuing to support the development of Canada’s first high speed passenger rail project in our ongoing role as special project advisor to Alto during the Co-Development Phase.
