The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) tunnel leading to the future station at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport has been completed. CDPQ Infra, which is now working on the installation of rails and equipment, hopes to be able to “save time” on the schedule, already postponed beyond the end of 2024.
Posted at 10:23 a.m.
“We are really at the door of the station. And since the tunnel boring machine we used drilled, but also built the walls at the same time, we can say that it is really the tunnel itself that is completed. It was the first time that we had used it in Quebec, ”says the spokesperson for the subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Jean-Vincent Lacroix.
However, there are still several steps before a possible commissioning. In addition to building the station – which is the responsibility of Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) – CDPQ Infra will have to install the rails, control systems, power supply, communication and various other equipment.
At the end of May, The Press reported the antenna of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM) leading to the airport faces further delays and will not be in service at the end of 2024 as planned. This is because the REM airport station will be completed later than planned. Mr. Lacroix says, however, that discussions are underway with ADM in order to carry out “concomitant activities” and “save time”.
We must define from when we are authorized to come and do our work, respecting the work that is being done on their side. In practice, if we are able to come before, even if everything is not finished, we will save time on the schedule.
Jean-Vincent Lacroix, spokesperson for CDPQ Infra
A timetable for the airport “this fall”
In June, CDPQ Infra announced that the delivery of 18 REM stations, downtown, in the west of the island and in the northern crown, will have to be postponed again. We will have to wait until the end of 2024, the worksite still being hard hit by the discovery of century-old explosives in the Mount Royal tunnel in July 2020. The opening of the South Shore branch is however maintained at fall 2022.
As for the route to connect the airport to the city center, Jean-Vincent Lacroix still hopes to be able to “confirm the date of commissioning this fall”.
“We will also eventually do a financial update of the overall project, but first there are discussions that must take place with the contractor, on the issues of the Mont-Royal tunnel in particular,” said the spokesperson, adding that labor shortages, inflation and the war in Ukraine are directly affecting the supply chain. “It’s all that is being analyzed. »
In general, the work with the tunnel boring machine towards the airport went well, he continues. However, a few unforeseen events forced the teams – made up of just over 100 workers – to adapt.
Between the Technoparc and the airport landing strips, in particular, some “surface subsidence” took place and had to be quickly repaired, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment. “We were in a mix of soils, with loose soil and rock, so there were issues. The biggest glitches were really at the start of construction. Once we reached the rock, the pace really picked up,” notes Mr. Lacroix on this subject.