Ottawa and Montreal will be the first major cities in the country connected by high-speed rail, the federal government announced Friday.

Transport Minster Steven MacKinnon revealed that the Ottawa-Montreal corridor would be the first phase of a high-speed train project, with construction expected to begin within about four years. As part of the project, a station would be built in Laval. The project would shorten the two-hour trip by about half, according to current estimates.

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The corridor represents about 25 per cent of the total length of track needed to build the entire Toronto-to-Quebec City network. While no official cost determinations have yet been made by the consortium picked to lead the project, estimates peg the entire project at $80 billion, which includes

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