While concerns raised about the noise of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) have caused a lot of ink to flow in recent weeks, the official opening of the city’s newest transportation network on July 31 will be with one major absentee: the promise of an REM station in Pointe-Saint-Charles.
Indeed, as demonstrated in numerous reports, the citizens of Pointe-Saint-Charles have suffered greatly from the installation of the network that flies over the neighborhood. Traffic obstructed during the work, noise caused by construction and by the passage of the train which runs 20 hours a day, dust, changes in the urban landscape and more; all this is now part of their daily life.
All this adds to a difficult context in a neighborhood that is already suffering greatly from the obstacles caused by the transport of heavy goods, adjacent highways, the presence of VIA Rail and CN trains and more. There is therefore no doubt that, despite its undisputed charm, the accumulation of these sources of discontent weighs more and more heavily on the citizens of this district.
Although we welcome the commitments of CDPQ Infra promising the implementation of anti-noise measures, it seems that a certain justice would like citizens to at least be able to take advantage of an REM station. Indeed, the latter are currently poorly served in terms of the collective structuring transport network, and a REM station in Pointe-Saint-Charles would allow them to have a direct and fast route to the city center, and therefore access to the entire metropolitan transport network.
This would certainly make it possible to open up a certain part of the sector, often considered to be more isolated, and would now allow privileged access to a set of services. In addition, the vitality and attractiveness of the neighborhood would be all the more stimulated by improving its accessibility for all of Montreal’s population. It is obvious that everyone would be a winner.
Of course, this will in no way replace the need to quickly reduce the noise of REM trains, we agree, but the inhabitants of the neighborhood will at least be able to benefit, too, from the many advantages of the network. On this point, it is important for us to welcome CPDQ Infra’s commitments, and we hope that the implementation of mitigation measures can be done quickly.
Transparency
We will obviously follow the file with particular attention and we also believe that it will be absolutely necessary for CDPQ Infra to organize a public meeting with the local population affected by noise to inform them of its action plan and the work schedule, while specifying the planned improvements and the areas of impact targeted for noise reduction measures. It seems clear to us that a bond of trust and a frank and open discussion, and this, for the years to come, will constitute the keystone of successful social cohesion.
Such a station would also make it possible to serve the future Bridge-Bonaventure district, which absolutely must be able to benefit from a structuring public transit network. We are planning the construction of an innovative development, with great social diversity and remarkable potential, but which, without a station, cannot be duly integrated into the life and vitality of Montreal. An incredible opportunity for the construction of social and affordable housing presents itself to us in this sector in the midst of a housing crisis, and we will have to put in place all the winning conditions for it to materialize. It would therefore be nonsense not to correct this lack immediately.
We believe that it would be unfair for the citizens of Pointe-Saint-Charles to see the REM circulating above their heads day and night for the next few years without ever being able to access it from their homes. This would inevitably have the bitter taste of a project that prefers to pass at full speed between L’Île-des-Soeurs and Griffintown rather than stopping there, the vision of a train that passes and passes, but which never stops. On the contrary, therefore, let us promise them a station today and let us make sure that they too can finally get on board.