The green line finally restarted Tuesday morning, after a long interruption in the middle of Monday’s rush hour, the deterioration of the concrete in the vault of the tunnel between Berri-UQAM and Saint-Laurent having been deemed “superficial”. Beyond the impacts, however, the event shows that the Montreal metro is coming to a pivotal moment in terms of maintenance.
“We are in the second life cycle of the infrastructure. The Saint-Laurent metro was built when it opened in 1967, so we have to be aware that we have aging infrastructures. We must continue our maintenance efforts,” said the general manager of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), Marie-Claude Léonard, in an interview with The Press.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Company announced the reopening of the green line around 5 a.m., nearly 12 hours after the total interruption between the Frontenac and Lionel-Groulx stations, a section that serves around 150,000 people a day. It was a water leak that detected cracks in the vault of the tunnel between the Berri-UQAM and Saint-Laurent stations.
“After more than six hours of auscultation, hammering and observation, the degradation of the concrete is superficial and the integrity of the vault is not in question”, indicated the STM on Tuesday, ensuring that a team of experts carried out a rigorous assessment of the situation.
Mme Léonard affirms that the emergency works, held in the night from Monday to Tuesday, made it possible to “bring down the concrete which could perhaps have fallen by vibration on the track”. “There is no curve in the frame. The structure is intact and everything is safe, so we reopened. Reopening is never a decision taken lightly,” she said.
Towards a “long period of work”
However, various preventive works will still have to take place above the tunnel. A metal fence will also be “installed over the next few nights to give us time to carry out the work,” says the STM. “Permanent works” will then be undertaken. “We are going to call for tenders for the reconstruction of the surface of the new vault. This process can take several months, ”confirmed spokesperson Justine Lord-Dufour.
Marie-Claude Léonard specifies that “various asset maintenance programs” allow her group to hold “frequent evaluations” of the metro. An “inspection plan for the structure of the vaults in metro tunnels” had already been launched in recent years, and will continue. “Everything is in place to prevent it, but we can never say that it will not happen again”, evokes the DG.
For Pierre Barrieau, an expert in transport planning at the University of Montreal, it is important to understand that the metro is coming at a pivotal moment. “We are entering a long period of permanent work for the entire network. In the medium term, this may mean more and more frequent closures, a night period that will have to be extended, or an hour or two less of service every day to allow for longer work cycles,” he reasons.
“Already, the metro had a significant accumulated maintenance deficit, but this is where we are coming to major investments that are coming in the maintenance of assets,” continues Mr. Barrieau.
The latter cites in particular the example of the New York subway, “which entered a period of great decline at the turn of the 1960s because its equipment was reaching the end of its useful life, and the City did not have the financial means to carry out all the work required. “We had seen a lot more breakdowns and all kinds of problems then. The interview is really fundamental”, he illustrates.
Concerned users
At the start of the day, Tuesday, users were divided. “It worries my wife since she takes the metro every day to go to work. She was definitely worried this morning,” says Montrealer Marc Biron, who was on his way to a meeting when The Press challenged him.
“We mustn’t forget that the metro was built at the end of the 1960s. It’s cement, and we have four seasons, a lot of rain, a lot of frost. I think it’s normal what happens. You just have to manage it well, ”continues the 69-year-old man, who will benefit from free public transport from July, a promise fulfilled by the Plante administration.
“I already have my pass ready for that. The metro is still the best option for getting around town, ”said the sixty-something with a smile.
Other users met by The Press also say they have some concerns. “We especially wonder if there is more important work to come,” said one of them, for example, as he entered the metro at Berri-UQAM.