[1] The 10-year regional express rail plan will cost $13.5 billion[8] and will require 150 kilometres (93 mi) of new track, including new bridges and tunnels.

The Big Move outlined the building of express and regional rail service improvements across the existing GO Transit network.

Other improvements included extensions to Hamilton and Bowmanville, as well as new GO Transit corridors to Bolton, Seaton and Locust Hill.

[10] This vision of two-way, full-day train service on all corridors eventually included electrification of the system and was renamed Regional Express Rail.

[11] As part of the Phase 2 announcement, Metrolinx stated that the Kitchener and Lakeshore lines would be electrified, as well as the Union Pearson Express.

The Kitchener line will receive at least $750 million of the federal funding for infrastructure upgrades including 40 kilometres (25 mi) of new track.

[13] On February 23, 2022, Metrolinx announced that the preferred bidder for the contract was ONxpress Transportation Partners,[14] a consortium that includes Aecon, FCC Construcción, Alstom, and Deutsche Bahn, among others.

[2] The contract was finalized on April 19, 2022; Alstom announced it will be implementing the European Rail Traffic Management System for the signalling on the upgraded network, the first use of that standard in North America.

[13][25] SmartTrack started out as a proposed Regional Express Rail surface service to run mostly within the City of Toronto.