On the island of Montreal, the publication of the final report on the Eastern REM seems to make many happy. Mayor Valérie Plante is the first to share her enthusiasm.
Saturday morning, The Press published the conclusions of this report of a hundred pages, in which we find a revised route as well as an estimate of the costs of carrying out the project.
The committee appointed by Quebec and Montreal now recommends that the REM go as far as the cities of Laval, Repentigny and Charlemagne. This new version would leave from Pointe-aux-Trembles to go to Cégep Marie-Victorin, a 34 km route that would serve a traffic of up to 29,000 passengers.
“This time, we followed the right steps in planning and creating structuring public transit,” replied the mayor, asked to give her opinion on the report during a press briefing in the afternoon.
“I am very enthusiastic and I have always said it, it is necessary to be able to offer a much more interesting transport offer in the crowns”, she added.
There are also two connection points to the green metro line, namely Honoré-Beaugrand and Assomption, in this project which would be completely underground. This is a “major” asset in the eyes of the mayor, who speaks of increased efficiency against external bad weather.
The total bill, according to the committee, would reach 36 billion dollars. Is a project of this financial scale realistic? Valérie Plante understands that the question is asked. However, she pointed out that the report takes into account all possible contingencies.
The mayor now wants to sit down with the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and the Ministère des Transports to discuss the costs related to the construction of the REM.
She wants to assess the need for the various elements presented, and says she is open to seeing if there is a way to reduce the bill. Creating a public-private partnership or using the Canada Infrastructure Bank are options to explore, according to her.
We have to believe in it. This project is necessary not just for the east of Montreal, but for the entire east of the metropolitan area. It’s major.
Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal
Shared feeling
“People from the East end of Montreal deserve to finally have structuring public transit, of quality, to allow people to walk within their neighborhood and towards the city center”, for his part commented Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, questioned during a press briefing on housing on Saturday.
What does he think of the colossal amount of 36 billion? “Building public transit costs money, but it is an investment for Montreal, an investment for the future, an investment that is worthwhile,” lists the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire.
Even in the city, some borough mayors share this joy. This is notably the case of Pierre Lessard-Blais, in Mercier–Hochelaga-Masionneuve.
“A 100% underground REM is a huge gain for Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve,” he wrote on Twitter. Our collective mobilization for quality of life and public transit is paying off today! I welcome the developments and continue the work. »
The Mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Caroline Bourgeois, thinks that “the population of the East deserves an investment commensurate with their needs”. She also welcomed the report on Twitter.
The ARTM plans to give a technical briefing to the media on Tuesday, in order to properly explain the content of the report.