Actual conditions | REM tests launched Monday on the Deux-Montagnes antenna

The first dynamic tests will be launched this Monday on the Deux-Montagnes antenna, between the Saint-Eustache maintenance center and the Sainte-Dorothée station, in Laval, construction now being “practically completed” in this sector.

This was announced on Friday by CDPQ Infra, the subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt which manages the light train, in a notice made public on its website. The cars will therefore be in circulation under “real conditions” of service, including frequency and speed, on this segment of more than 6 kilometers.

Several components of the network will thus be tested, “from cars to stations, including signaling and communication systems and screen doors”, indicated the organization, which speaks of an “important step towards commissioning” of the western and northern branches of the REM.

In April, the Caisse announced that the two antennas Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme, which were to be delivered at the end of 2024, would be postponed until 2025 due to work underway in the Mont-Royal tunnel, where the discovery century-old explosives in 2020 delayed the work.

It was then a new tile on the ambitious project, after a checkered commissioning of the section linking Brossard to Montreal Central station, which has suffered several service interruptions since last July.

For the moment, these dynamic tests will only take place between the Saint-Eustache maintenance center and the Sainte-Dorothée station, but they will then be “progressively deployed by segment” in other sectors. The choice to start the tests in the north was not left to chance; the objective is for at least the first dynamic tests to progress while work in the Mont-Royal tunnel is carried out.

“When the dynamic tests have progressed sufficiently, we will be able to provide a clearer view of their durations. The date of full commissioning of the network will also be clarified depending on the progress of the dynamic tests,” added CDPQ Infra in a press release.

So, when will it open? Questioned several times, the CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement, Charles Emond, limits himself for the moment to talking about commissioning “in 2025”. According to our information, commissioning is also not planned for the first months of 2025. We must therefore expect a delay of at least several months, if not almost a year.

As for the route to connect the airport to the city center, delivery is still planned for 2027 only, with construction work on the station first having to take place until 2026. No additional details have yet been given to this subject.