Two men are due to appear in court in Canada today charged in connection with an alleged terrorist plot to blow up a railway line.

The pair, who were arrested in Toronto and Montreal yesterday, are believed to be linked to al Qaeda.

They're charged with "receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran" to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area.

It's alleged they planned to plant explosives on the line between Toronto and New York in order to derail a passenger train. 

Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI worked together in a surveillance operation that began last August and culminated in yesterday's arrests.

Assistant Commissioner James Malizia says public safety was the top priorty during the investigation: