We now have sketches of what the REM promoter would like to see as urban development, but does not want to pay. We can immediately draw two conclusions: 1) Essentially, the project has not changed; 2) CDPQ Infra has, once again, passed on a large bill to someone else.
Posted on March 13
Now that we have seen the all-Soviet aesthetic of the REM West, CPDQ Infra has presented a new, prettier version for the East version. More rounded corners for the apron, better concealed catenaries, a linear park on the ground under the REM.
But, for the most part, nothing changes. Even if an advisory committee made excellent recommendations, very few will be retained and the most important, such as using steel for the pillars, are completely discarded.
We’ll make prettier concrete pillars, all right, but even if they were made of sculpted marble, the REM would remain a huge scar, an urban fracture that will disfigure certain neighborhoods of Montreal.
On the other hand, we learn that on 10% of the route, we will have to install “semi-opaque” noise barriers that will border the apron over four meters high. In short, while we want to make the project more elegant, we will have something that will look like a tunnel on stilts. It’s going to be really beautiful, and right in the city center!
On the other hand, the most contentious aspects of the route, such as the crossing of Morgan Park or Chinatown – which the Government of Quebec intends to classify as heritage – have not been modified.
Pretty sunny drawings, presented by CDPQ Infra this week, show a linear park with cycle paths and a promenade for pedestrians. All this under and around the concrete deck. What the beautiful design cannot show is the noise, vibrations and dust kicked up by the trains which will pass every two and a half minutes each way. Not sure that the beautiful linear park under the tracks will be so popular…
All of these upgrades will cost money. And CDPQ Infra doesn’t want to pay anything because it’s not related to the “transportation component” of the project. On the one hand, it will not be counted in the overall cost of the REM de l’Est. On the other hand, we will simply send the invoice to the City of Montreal.
It is a problem of transparency. But it is also a problem of governance. We’re going to shovel all that in the yard of the City, which has no say in the matter, but which will still have to pay.
The danger, of course, is that all these developments will not be carried out because the City does not have infinite resources and has other priorities, especially because of the aging of essential infrastructures. Which made the president of the Order of Architects, Pierre Corriveau, say: “We risk ending up with half of the project, and the one we don’t necessarily want to have. »
Moreover, the project “that one would not necessarily want to have” will retain its essential characteristics.
For it to be profitable for its promoter, the green line of the metro will be duplicated between the city center and its terminus. In short, there is no other word: we will cannibalize the green line. We will be in competition with the metro instead of complementing it.
In a normal governance situation – that is to say if the CAQ government were not sold body and soul to the promoter of the project, as the Couillard government was before it –, that would be enough to ask let’s do our homework.
Instead, the developer is allowed to ignore a reality on the ground: the majority of trips by residents of the East are not to the city center, but to the East. Except that for CDPQ Infra, the most profitable is the trip to the center.
Especially since the government is ready to subsidize the promoter at disproportionate levels. For the West REM, it will be 72 cents per passenger-kilometre. For the REM de l’Est, due to lower ridership, it will probably be even more. By way of comparison, the STM receives a subsidy of 42 cents per passenger-kilometre for a metro passenger. Almost twice as much.
We understand why, under the pretext of a change of route requested by citizens, we refuse to make a connection with the green line at Honoré-Beaugrand or Radisson – which would be more appropriate. CDPQ Infra’s business model requires keeping its passengers as long as possible, even if it means doubling up on the métro for most of the route.
We also understand why the government and the promoter do not want to give the REM a mode of governance in which the City of Montreal would be a full partner: the City risks not wanting to sing the same song as the choir of the CDPQ-Government tandem.