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The time is nigh for an overnight train between Montreal and New York City, says François Rebello.

The Montreal entrepreneur and former Coalition Avenir Québec MNA says he has lined up $10 million in private-sector funding necessary to launch the service, allowing passengers to make the trip in the comfort of sleeper cars while saving money on hotel stays.

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The largest remaining hurdle is obtaining the approval of Canadian Pacific, which owns a large stretch of the rail lines and runs freight service on the tracks.

More than one million trips a year are taken between the two cities, and travellers are yearning for an alternative to flying or going by car or bus, Rebello said.

“When you’re in a train, time passes differently than when you’re driving or in a plane or waiting in an airport,” Rebello said. “You have to live it to feel the difference. When people do it, they learn to love it.”

Rebello’s plan is to purchase used sleeper cars and refurbish them, and run them nightly in both directions between Montreal and New York, leaving at 8 p.m. and arriving at 9 a.m. The train would have three passenger cars holding 120 passengers, plus another two service cars, including a dining car and bar. The sleeper cabins would hold one to two passengers, and showers outside of the cabins would be available. The trains would hook up with Amtrak trains in Albany, N.Y. that would take them into Penn Station in New York City.