The Montreal East tramway should be accompanied by “short extensions” of the metro on the blue and green lines, with a “super common terminus” connecting them, according to a new report from Vivre en Ville to be published this Thursday.
“We need to do better and see bigger for the East,” says the general director of Vivre en Ville, Christian Savard, in an interview with The PressHis group is proposing an “alternative route” to the Eastern Structuring Project (PSE), the most recent version of which at 18.6 billion was unveiled by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) last spring, in our pages.
From the outset, Mr. Savard and his teams propose “extending the metro network” rather than opting for an underground route under the Rivière des Prairies, as proposed in the current plan. To achieve this, he suggests extending the Green Line and the Blue Line by one additional station to the east, the second already having five additional stations under construction, to be delivered in 2031.
“We could then make a super common terminus, so a station linking the two lines, which means that someone from Pointe-aux-Trembles who wanted to go to the Galeries d’Anjou or the University of Montreal would very quickly find themselves with options,” says the manager.
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However, his proposal does not entirely exclude the tramway, notably retaining the northern branch starting from the green metro line to Rivière-des-Prairies. “The time savings and local travel needs, particularly the service to Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital and the intersection of two metro lines, at L’Assomption and Lacordaire stations, justify considering this axis,” the document reads.
Vivre en Ville also proposes that the tramway “branch off to the south to head back west along the Hochelaga or Souligny axis.” “This would have the advantage of serving the south of Mercier and not doubling the green line on Sherbrooke Street.”
Thus, for Pointe-aux-Trembles, “two options would be possible: a faster line, but off-centre on Sherbrooke Street, or a more urban line that penetrates deeper into the heart of the neighbourhoods,” the organisation emphasises.
Finally, for Lanaudière, Mr. Savard calls for “documenting all possible options”, including “a major improvement of the Eastern train to make it a truly structuring suburban public transport”. “Without rejecting it outright, the idea of building a very long tunnel, to reach so few users, deserves to be compared to other options”, he also believes.
The alternative route is not quantified, but the general director acknowledges that the bill would be “a little more expensive” than the 18.6 billion of the most recent version of the PSE. “The cost would certainly be a little higher, but we could do much better for everyone,” he judges.
An already “efficient” project, retorts the ARTM
The ARTM received the idea with little enthusiasm, instead maintaining that it had already “presented a proposal for a high-performance, attractive, financially responsible and unifying project in order to offer the East a first structuring mode.” “This project proposal, which received the support of elected officials in the sector, is based on the analysis of the current and future needs of the communities in addition to being aligned with the most recent Urban Planning and Mobility Plan (PUM) of the City of Montreal,” asserts spokesperson Simon Charbonneau. However, he maintains that his group will “certainly take note” of the Vivre en Ville proposal. “It is quite normal that questions and topics remain to be explored in more depth at this stage of the project. The next step is precisely to deepen the analyses, in collaboration with municipal stakeholders in the area, to detail the integration into the networks and the more detailed urban insertion,” he concludes.