After three postponements and a year behind schedule, the first phase of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM) will be fully functional from Monday, July 31. The public will be able to test the antenna linking Brossard to downtown Montreal for free the previous weekend. This is the moment of truth for this project, the usefulness of which we have never ceased to praise and its imperfection to be deplored.
Among the latest criticisms in the running are the noise impacts that local residents have been acutely feeling since the start of the empty test phase, particularly in L’Île-des-Soeurs, Pointe-Saint-Charles and Griffintown, where the REM weaves its way through high-density places, at a frequency that leaves little respite. The train will run every 3.5 minutes during peak hours, and 20 hours a day in general. Enough to lose your head if the noise pollution is not tamed by human genius.
CDPQ Infra, the project’s prime contractor, has already taken measures to attenuate the noise (welded rails, special treatment on the wheels, dynamic absorbers, etc.) and has promised to set up a sound monitoring program. Additional measures, such as the addition of noise barriers in certain places, will help maintain the social acceptability of the project within a society which, let’s face it, is somewhat fussy in defending its comfort.
CDPQ Infra and the various transport companies involved in the organization of services will also have to deploy constant communication efforts to support users who will see their habits change. Eventually, 18 Société de transport de Montréal (STM) bus lines will be connected to the REM in L’Île-des-Soeurs. Same scenario in Longueuil, where six lines will be folded towards the REM. Users who went directly to downtown Montreal by bus will now have to make a connection on the REM, an irritant that we generally try to avoid in public transit. CDPQ Infra ensures, however, that the travel time should be identical or improved in “the majority of cases”.
We will see. We can’t expect a project of this magnitude to get off to a perfect start. However, we can require its promoters to engage in a process of continuous improvement to build the future.
The expansion of the REM is irreparably compromised beyond the first phases. At a revised cost of $6.9 billion, the REM will include a section from Montreal to Deux-Montagnes in 2024, and a direct link between downtown and Montreal-Trudeau airport in 2027. that for this last segment, which will ensure an airport service worthy of a metropolis, the adventure of the REM was worth it.
CDPQ Infra’s stubbornness in promoting an air route in the heart of the city completed the REM de l’Est project, which would have been promising if it had been better integrated into the urban fabric. Faced with the outcry, and no doubt short of inspiration, the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec (CDPQ) chose to withdraw from the project.
Quebec took over the file in hand, last year, to entrust it to a joint committee led by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), in which the Ministry of Transport, the City of Montreal and the STM also participate. Now called Eastern Structuring Project (PSE), this project quickly became an ode to the stupidity of public transport planners. The ARTM gave birth to a project of 36 billion dollars, entirely underground, while the initial project was to cost 10 billion. Prime Minister François Legault and the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, quickly denounced the lack of realism of this draft.
As well say that the PSE is dead and buried, although the residents of the east of the island are in dire need of a service by public transport, in particular in Rivière-des-Prairies and Montreal-North. It has been promised, but not delivered, for almost half a century. It is a monumental farce that we repeat in collective amnesia.
The director general of Vivre en ville, Christian Savard, found the right word when commenting on the situation. The ARTM proposal “appears more like a political battle against aerial structures rather than a reasoned approach by public transport experts”. In some neighborhoods in the east where an aerial route would have been possible, the “not in my backyard” triumphed.
The ARTM was born out of a desire to “depoliticize” public transit planning. Since its creation in 2016, the agency has not shone with its leadership. His lack of vision hurts. It must go back to the drawing board to consider alternative options, such as an aboveground tramway, and promote both urban densification and sustainable mobility in Montreal’s east end.