July 20, 2023

Thursday

High Frequency Rail announcement of RFP consortia

The government has announced the three consortia of companies bidding for the VIA Rail High Frequency Rail (HFR) privatization project.

Request for Proposals Timeline:

The groups chosen for the competition are:

CDPQ Infra: Quebec pension plan infrastructure investment arm. Owns the Montreal REM automated metro rail project.
SNC-Lavalin: Quebec engineering firm
Systra Canada: Formally Canarail. International rail consulting firm. Work directly for VIA Rail over the corridor transformation with CH2M Jacobs. Part of the Metrolinx Scarborough extension project.
Keolis Canada: Service delivery of P3 specialists. Part of the Waterloo ION light rail consortia and Montreal transit partnership.

Renfe Operadora: Spanish government owned rail company.
Intercity Development Partners: Michael Schabas (UK and Canada) rail consultant. Worked on Skytrain, Canary Wharf development, GO Transit extension and privatization plan, and the plan for Ontario Line. Companies directly linked to First Group.
EllisDon Capital: P3 infrastructure specialists (30 P3 contracts)
Kilmer Transportation: P3 infrastructure associated development company. Involved in ONroute service stops, Canary District Toronto, .
First Rail Holdings: First Groups' UK Rail holding company. Operates 24% of the privatized UK rail system.
Jacobs: Transport (including rail), telecom, and utility engineering and consulting group.
Hatch: Transport engineering consulting firm.
CIMA+: Engineering firm.
First Group: Large multinational rail and bus operator. Not the First Transit owner any more as it was sold to Transdev.
RATP Dev Canada: French/Global intercity transit provider