MONTREAL — A VIA Rail Canada subsidiary paid more than Ca$330,000 to a marketing firm to rebrand itself as part of the effort to shift its high-frequency rail project to high speed rail after discovering little support for the original concept, the Canadian Press reports.
Documents obtained by the news service show that the VIA HFR, the spinoff involved in the plan for a passenger-only route between Toronto and Quebec City, was concerned about “widespread disinterest” in the high-frequency concept. It then hired Quebec-based Cossette Communications to come up with a marketing plan reflecting a greater emphasis on speed.
The result was VIA HFR’s rebranding as “Alto,” a name and logo developed more than a year ago but not announced until February, when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced government funding for development of high speed service on the Toronto-Montreal-Quebec City route [see “Canadian government announces plans …,” News Wire, Feb. 19, 2025]. That announcement was preceded by reports that the government was considering a shift from a high-frequency project to a high speed line [see “Canada’s High Frequency Rail could become …,” News Wire, Oct. 9, 2024].
Internal documents obtained by the Canadian Press under access-to-information laws show that VIA HFR found “strong opposition” to the high frequency concept, which it found “challenging to navigate” since the term was in the name of the Crown corporation. That spurred the move to a high speed concept — and the work with the marketing firm, which billed VIA HFR more than Ca$330,000 (U.S. $238,800) between September 2023 and January 2025.
Share this article
