Call it the second spike.

The province’s appointment of a special adviser to hammer high-speed rail into Southwestern Ontario, coming about a year after an environmental assessment was announced, is ringing loud in London’s dreams.

“It could be a project as significant as the St. Lawrence Seaway. It has that kind of game-changing possibility for London and Ontario,” Gerry Macartney, CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.

People and investment will gravitate to the places connected to the high speed rail, he said.

“It’s not just the notion of getting to Toronto in 77 minutes. It’s the fact you can work in Toronto and live in London, or live in Toronto and work in London.”

The last spike in this railway is years, maybe decades away.

But for a city seeking better connections to talent-rich markets, more high-skilled workers, and a boost to its own internal transit system, every new sign of progress is welcome.

“This is positive step forward,” Mayor Matt Brown said in an emailed statement. “It will effectively shrink the distance between communities across Southwestern Ontario and the GTHA (Greater Toronto Hamilton Area.)”

The province Friday named former federal transport minister David Collenette as the special adviser to help bring high-speed rail to the Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto corridor.

Collenette is charged with providing a preliminary business case and financing models, evaluating high-speed systems in other countries and working with public and private sectors, as well as First Nations and Metis groups, on the economic potential.

There’s no cost estimate yet for the rail system, but the province has committed $130 billion over 10 years to public works projects.

Among all the cities in the proposed corridor, London may have the most to gain.

The city sits as a bit of an urban island between Detroit’s gateway to the rich midwest U.S. markets and the ever-growing Greater Toronto Hamilton Area.

Rival cities such as Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton have grown and attracted young talent simply by being closer to Toronto. That easy growth hasn’t happened in London.

In fact, the growing vehicle traffic in Southwestern Ontario has meant a slower movement of people from London, with the two-hour trip to Toronto by car five years ago now closer to three.

“People need to be mobile,” Macartney said. Already, thousands of Londoners a week need to get to Toronto for business and pleasure. Making their trips easier will make their days more productive.

An easier trip to Toronto will make London more attractive to commuters, he noted.

It can work the other way, as well. Gaming companies in London need a way to attract high-skilled workers, and a quick commute from Toronto or Windsor may just be a solution for some workers, Macartney said.

London is working on a new rapid transit system that ideally would connect to the high-speed rail system.

“We need to work with the province and focus aligning our rapid transit initiative with the province’s high-speed rail system to make London an economic and transportation hub for the Southwest,” Brown said Friday.

Plans for high-speed rail are under way in the Chicago area and Eastern seaboard, Macartney said. Ontario has to get aboard as well or lose talent and investment to the areas on its borders, he said.

Macartney noted the support prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau has given support to increased spending on infrastructure. With Liberals in power in both Ottawa and Queen’s Park, “the combination might bode very well for London,” he said.

Collenette could not be reached for comment Friday.

“High-speed rail is a landmark initiative that will transform travel across the entire province,” he said in a prepared statement.