Western and northern branches of the REM postponed | “We leave users in the dark”

The two Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme antennas of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) which were to be delivered at the end of 2024 are postponed to 2025, due to the work underway in the Mont-Royal tunnel. A new tile on the ambitious project, after a checkered commissioning of the section linking Brossard to Montreal.

4:30 p.m., Côte-Vertu terminus. There are dozens of them waiting in line while waiting for the shuttle that will take them to Deux-Montagnes on Wednesday. The afternoon sun beating down on the boarding platform clashes with the bad news that users have just received: the arrival of the REM in Deux-Montagnes has been postponed for a year. Again.

At the end of the queue, Nunzia Pietrangelo cursed when she heard the announcement. “It’s very frustrating, I’m really sad,” she says. The one who has lived in Deux-Montagnes for a year was counting the days until the train arrived near her home. “I was already making plans to go see concerts in the city, since I would no longer have to worry about the subway and the bus. »

However, the young woman is not surprised that the REM is slow to get on track. “It’s always like that here,” says the Deux-Montagnaise.

In a press release published Wednesday, CDPQ Infra, the subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec which manages the light rail, indicated that its teams “have increased efforts to optimize deadlines”, but that “despite everything, work of great complexity to modernize the Mont-Royal tunnel must continue.

Result: the tests of this segment “will not be able to begin for the opening initially planned (at the end of 2024) and will postpone the commissioning for the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme antenna”, confirmed the Fund, without moving further forward on a new, more precise timetable. However, dynamic tests will be launched on these sections within a few weeks.

So, when will it open? The CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement, Charles Emond, limits himself to talking about commissioning “in 2025”.

“All the infrastructure work has been completed: antenna and tunnel. We will begin testing at the antenna level. For the tunnel, what remains is electricity, ventilation, wiring. There are 600 kilometers of cables to lay. And these are the tests which will prove everything for the future,” he said during a short press scrum in Quebec, at the end of the study of the budgetary appropriations of the Ministry of Finance in the parliamentary committee. .

According to our information, commissioning is also not planned for the first months of 2025. We must therefore expect a delay of at least several months, if not almost a year.

As for the route to connect the airport to the city center, delivery is still scheduled for 2027 only, with construction work on the station first having to take place until 2026. No additional details were given to this subject.

On the platform of the Côte-Vertu terminus, Zamy Dieumatant sighs. The one who moved to Deux-Montagnes a year ago did not at all expect the REM to be postponed. “They did work all winter, yet… I couldn’t wait for it to start,” she laments.

Doing things “the right way”

“We are obviously disappointed with this delay,” the office of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, reacted on Wednesday, saying however that it understood that the Caisse “must carry out additional tests to ensure the conformity and reliability of the system”. “Let us take the time to do it properly. I think it’s better than going too quickly and then the same people who denounce the delay denounce the fact that it’s not on time,” mentioned M.^me Guilbault during credit studies in Quebec.

At Trajectoire Québec, an organization defending users’ rights, director Sarah V. Doyon also hid her disappointment poorly. “I can’t say it’s a surprise. The REM has accustomed us to postponements. But it’s very disappointing. And above all, it comes very late. Once again, we leave users in the dark without giving an approximate date. It’s history repeating itself,” she whispers.

In Deux-Montagnes, Mayor Denis Martin deplores being “in nothingness”. “For residents here, five years of interruption of service is enormous. We understand that they have had enough. The shuttle service operates, but it is increasingly busy. And it’s still 40 minutes longer round trip. People’s patience has limits. We have to move on,” he said.

” It is very frustrating “

Sitting in the bus shelter, at the Côte-Vertu terminus, Nachida Slimani was the first to arrive in the queue for the shuttle, which replaces the train line closed since 2020. “You have to organize yourself accordingly, climb the steps of the metro in running for fear of missing the bus, because otherwise, we have to wait 20 minutes more,” explains the Deux-Montagnaise.

She deplores that the REM is taking so long to get on track. “I came to Quebec for a better life, not to have mediocre services,” declares the woman who is originally from Algeria.

Michel Levesque is “not surprised at all” by CDPQ Infra’s announcement. “I’m going to be 65 years old, and I didn’t expect to see the new train before I retire,” adds the sixty-year-old before bursting out laughing.

“I find it unfortunate, all the same. It would have been useful for a lot of people,” says the Deux-Montagnais, over the noise of the shuttle’s engine stopping near him.

At 18, Yasmine ben Lamine does not let the news discourage her. “With the REM, it would be easier, but in the meantime, I take advantage of the shuttle to study,” explains the woman who is enrolled in health sciences at Marianopolis College.

“On the other hand, I know that in Brossard, they already have it. Well, we would love to have it too! “, says the young woman, before getting into the shuttle.

With Tommy Chouinard, The Press