About a hundred people will be able to board the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) three days earlier than the rest of the population, on July 28, the official inauguration day of the light rail.
CDPQ Infra launched a contest on Thursday to boost the enthusiasm around the big D-Day, scheduled for July 31. “Would you like to be among the first people to take the REM? “, asks the subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt, which thus offered Thursday on social networks to 100 people to “Run the chance to win a pair of tickets” to see the REM 72 hours before everyone else.
To participate, simply answer a quiz available online. For example, future users are asked to say over how many kilometers the REM network will eventually extend, or even to give the name of certain stations, the hours of operation of the light rail, its maximum capacity or even travel times between the South Shore and Montreal.
Internet users have until July 20 to answer the quiz, after which pairs of tickets will be drawn among all participants.
The winners will be able to circulate in the REM in the company of engineers and specialists who participated in the design and delivery of the project. Notice to hockey fans: a jersey in the REM colors will then be given to the big winners.
CDPQ Infra plans to launch several other activities in the coming days to stimulate citizen engagement in view of the real grand opening of the Réseau express métropolitain, scheduled for Monday, July 31.
Remember that with this first section of the REM, automated and equipped with platform doors, we will see the commissioning of the five stations. The South Shore branch will provide access to downtown Montreal in less than 18 minutes from Brossard, with service every 3 minutes 45 seconds during peak hours and every 7 minutes 30 seconds during the day. Eventually, however, it will be 2 minutes 30 seconds at peak and 5 minutes for the rest of the day.
The REM provides for the development of a total network of 26 stations which aims to link, over 67 kilometers, downtown Montreal, the South Shore, the West Island, the North Shore and Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport. It is expected that the REM cars will be in service every day, 20 hours a day, and that they will be connected to the three main lines of the Montreal metro.
In the last 12 months, there had been complete electrification of the 16.6 kilometers of the South Shore branch, including the crossing of the Samuel-De Champlain bridge.