MONTREAL — Quebec’s public pension management fund says it is considering mounting a bid to develop the High Frequency Rail project for Transport Canada.
The Montreal Gazette reports that Charles Emond, CEO of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, told reports Thursday that his organization is “looking at this actively, with a lot of interest. It’s the government’s prerogative to select the technology. After that, we will look at alternatives within what they have decided.”
Transport Canada announced last week that it was developing the Request For Qualifications for the High Frequency Rail project, with the goal of narrowing to three the field of prospective private developers for a passenger-only rail route between Toronto, Otttawa, Montreal, and Quebec City [see “Transport Canada defining process …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 20, 2023].
The Caisse’s infrastructure unit, CDPQ Infra, runs a global portfolio of almost $55 billion in assets, the Gazette reports. Most familiar in the rail industry is Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain light rail project, a 41.6-mile system which is running well behind schedule and is currently projected to cost at least C$7 billion. That project has created problems for the High Frequency Rail plan by taking over the Mount Royal tunnel, the former commuter rail route which would have been the most direct HFR option for a route from Montreal’s Central Station to Quebec City. CDPQ Infra also announced, then withdrew from, a second portion of REM plans, the REM de l’Est, in the face of criticism of that project [see “Major changes planned for Montreal light rail project,” News Wire, May 3, 2022].
CDPQ is also a 19% owner in one of Europe’s largest high speed operators, Eurostar Group, having bought shares once owned by the British government.
Emond’s expression of interest came on the same day that the pension manager announced suffered a net investment loss of C$24.6 billion in 2022, its worst since 2008, the Gazette reports.
— Updated at 9:55 a.m. CDT to note CDPQ ownership of Eurostar.
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