Toronto's budget chief is urging her fellow councillors to dig into a federal plan for a new passenger rail line to Quebec City, even as experts stress they'd like the city to push for more transparency around the multi-billion dollar project.

Officials from a VIA Rail subsidiary briefed city councillors on the economic development committee this week about the federal efforts to build the 1,000-kilometre rail line from Toronto to Quebec City. The project is intended to cut current travel times …