A high-speed train proposal linking Windsor and Quebec City received renewed interest Thursday with the premiers of two provinces and federal ministers agreeing to finance a feasibility study into the matter.

Increasing energy costs, traffic tie-ups and climate change concerns have combined to recycle an old idea once again.

The new service could see trains reaching speeds of 300 kilometres an hour – double the fastest speeds of VIA Rail's current trains – and nearly halving the time required to travel between Montreal and Toronto to a little more than two hours from the current four hours.

A similar 1995 feasibility study found that a 1,200-kilometre rail link for high-speed trains in the corridor would cost more than $18 billion.

The Ontario, Quebec and federal governments have all jumped on board and voiced their support to co-fund an updated feasibility for the fast-train line.

Labour leaders are also on board, with Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers telling the Toronto Star he saw the link as a possible solution to a potential economic slowdown, provided guarantees are made that the trains would be built and assembled in Canada.

Federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said he saw the train as a potential public-private partnership, while agreeing to fund up to one-third of the cost of the feasibility study.

"This government is committed to examining alternatives that offer comfortable, faster and more reliable passenger rail services that will also contribute to reducing greenhouse gases and other emissions," he said.

"In addition, I am calling on the Ontario and Quebec governments to do their part by continuing to invest in public transit in their respective urban centres, to ease congestion and contribute to cleaner air for Canadians," he added.

The news from the provincial government came a day after VIA Rail announced one additional, daily, mid-day train between Montreal and Ottawa in both directions beginning next week.

For more information on VIA's new train departure, visit Via Rail's news release on the announcement.