The shutdown of three commuter train lines — as suggested this week by the ARTM — would cause an “economic catastrophe” for the Richelieu Valley, according to local elected officials for whom such a scenario would undermine years of urban densification around the stations.
This is a “distress signal” that the members of the MRC de La Vallée-du-Richelieu council are sending. Replacing commuter trains with bus lines “will have catastrophic consequences on the economic, environmental and social levels,” they plead in unison in a joint press release published Thursday.
This solution will only offer “penny-pinching savings,” McMasterville Mayor Martin Dulac added in an interview. In return, years of housing planning will lose their value. “All our urban development […] is based on an obligation to densify within a radius of one kilometer around our train stations. If they take away these stations, we will force people to take back solo cars and create more traffic congestion,” he maintains. “The train is the backbone of our public transport service in the Richelieu Valley.”
He says he’s received a ton of messages and calls from concerned citizens since the news broke. Between 8 and 12 per cent of McMasterville workers use the train, he estimates. “It struck a chord. Everyone had the same reaction of surprise. The whole system is mobilized to keep the service going.”
Although “very embryonic” according to the train operators, this option has not failed to make the mayors of the northern suburbs jump just as much. It is necessary to ensure “a real alternative to the automobile for citizens living in densely populated areas”, they argue in a press release from the Table of prefects and elected officials of the northern suburbs published Wednesday.
“The economic development of our region is being hampered by the uncertainty surrounding public transportation. We need a clear plan and long-term investments,” says Patrick Charbonneau, Mayor and Prefect of Mirabel and Vice-President of the CMM’s Planning and Mobility Commission.
For Martin Dulac, the train is at the “heart of the urban vision” of the suburbs. “This vision has been in place since the adoption of the first metropolitan development plan [en 2011]. It is a long-term vision where we are making efforts towards densification.”
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.