RC124 MayJun 2026 - Magazine - Page 42
CLOSING SHOT
THE NEXT
NATION-BUILDING
LINK IS RAIL
by Francis Schiller
ITH THE GORDIE HOWE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE opening in 2026, the roadside
of the Windsor-Detroit gateway is 昀椀nally getting modern redundancy. Now the rail side needs the same ambition—because this
is a trade play.
Crossborder rail still depends on the 100-plus year-old
Detroit River tunnel with legacy clearances that constrain
modern intermodal, including 9’6” highcube, doublestack containers.
When a critical gateway can’t move what the market moves, it quietly adds
cost, reduces routing options, and increases supply chain fragility when
disruption hits.
The opportunity starts at the Port of Montréal, Eastern Canada’s largest
container port (about 1.5 million TEUs in 2025). Montreal is also advancing
the Contrecœur terminal, planned to add 1.15 million TEUs of capacity.
That waterfront growth only becomes Canadian growth if inland corridors
can move containers e昀케ciently to market—and Windsor-Detroit is the
missing rail link in the Montreal-Southern Ontario-Detroit-Chicago chain.
We’ve heard this before. In 2010, the “Continental Rail Gateway”
concept proposed a high-clearance replacement tunnel under the Detroit
River so modern container tra昀케c could move cleanly through Windsor–
Detroit into the U.S. Midwest. The need didn’t go away—it just went quiet.
What’s changed is the scale of the North American opportunity.
Chicago is the obvious prize, but not the only one. Canada’s trade lanes
increasingly run north-south as well as east-west. A modern WindsorDetroit rail gateway strengthens access not only to the U.S. Midwest, but
also to Mexican trade lanes—particularly for automotive, manufacturing
and electronic inputs, agrifood, and containerized consumer goods.
Canada is leaning into that opportunity diplomatically, too. A recent
Team Canada Trade Mission to Mexico underscored the push to deepen
commercial ties ahead of the 2026 CUSMA review. Trade strategy is only
credible if the infrastructure behind it can carry the load.
Look south for proof this approach is mainstream. The border crossing
between Laredo, Texas and Neuvo Laedo, Mexico has expanded rail
capacity with a second span paired with modern nonintrusive inspection
capability. The lesson is simple: a 21st century rail gateway is not only
steel and ballast; it’s throughput, security, and border clearance designed
together.
This is also the right time to align the Canadian side of the corridor.
Alto’s high-speed rail network is being codeveloped in the Toronto–
Québec City corridor, and Transport Canada has directed Alto/Cadence to
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42—RENEW CANADA –MAY/JUNE 2026
develop options to extend highspeed rail and/or enhance rail services
for Southwestern Ontario. Even if true high-speed doesn’t reach
Windsor in the 昀椀rst wave, this planning window is a chance to protect
right-of-way and expand capacity between Windsor, London, and the
GTA—capacity freight needs as much as passenger service.
So, what should start now?
First, launch a Canada-U.S. feasibility and corridor protection
process for a new Windsor–Detroit highclearance rail tunnel—freight昀椀rst, passenger-ready—designed for modern intermodal and built with
border clearance and operational resilience in the layout from day one.
Second, pair it with a Southwestern Ontario rail capacity program:
targeted passing tracks and junction upgrades, modern signals,
select grade separations, and intermodal/terminal interfaces that
reduce dwell time. Do it with the railways, border agencies, Ontario/
Michigan, municipalities, and port/intermodal partners at the table
from day one.
The hard questions—cost, approvals, neighbourhood impacts,
governance, and access terms—are real. But waiting only makes
them harder as rightsofway disappear and disruptions become more
expensive.
Nation-building infrastructure must outlast political cycles. The best
response is to build resilient, modern corridors that keep trade moving
under any government. Windsor-Detroit rail should be next—and the
work should start now.
RENEWCANADA.NET
FRANCIS SCHILLER/AI GENERATED
Francis Schiller has provided executive public affairs and
strategic advisory services in Ottawa since 1996, advising Csuite
leaders on transportation, infrastructure and trade policy,
project approvals and stakeholder strategy.
The best response is to build resilient,
modern corridors that keep trade
moving under any government.
