The project that will replace that of the “REM de l’Est” on the island of Montreal will absolutely have to go underground to the city center, insist the general managers of Vivre en Ville and the Société de développement Angus (SDA), which presented Thursday to the media their vision for this future mode of public transport, still under study.
Christian Savard, of Vivre en Ville, and Christian Yaccarini, of the SDA, were both members last year of a committee of experts which had been set up by Quebec to analyze this light rail project, before CDPQ-Infra announces its withdrawal from this project on the sidelines of the Legault government’s decision to take it over, last May. This decision followed that of Quebec and the City to remove the controversial aerial section downtown from the planning of the light rail project.
The version of the project currently being studied by a group made up of the City, the Ministère des Transports du Québec, the Société de transport de Montréal and the Autorité régionale du transport métropolitain (ARTM) aims instead to extend the possible route of the train light towards Lanaudière, where Repentigny and Terrebonne, among others, are located. Passengers who want to go to the city center will however have to get out of the light rail to take the green line of the metro, via Assomption station, according to the version of the project under study.
However, “this seemed very problematic to us,” noted Mr. Yaccarini on Thursday, during a technical briefing organized at the Maison du développement durable, near the Quartier des spectacles.
Access to the city center at all costs
The two experts thus claim that the initial objective of concretizing this project in 10 years is maintained, but especially that a section in the city center, in underground formula, remains on the table. The route proposed Thursday suggests linking Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montreal-North to the city center, with a “common trunk” which would see the light of day near the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, which employs 5,000 people.
“The busiest hospital in Quebec is not currently served by a metro or heavy public transport,” laments Mr. Yaccarini, who sees this as “nonsense” that must be remedied. “It’s the biggest generator of trips in the east of Montreal,” he notes.
The vision presented Thursday also provides for a connection to the Assomption metro station, on the green line, as well as to the future Lacordaire station, planned for the extension of the blue metro line. The two aerial branches to the north and east that would meet at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital would then continue westward through the boroughs of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Plateau-Mont-Royal, before branching off at south to downtown.
In the heart of the metropolis, connections would be provided to the Sherbrooke (orange line) and Saint-Laurent (green line) metro stations, as well as to the Central Station in a section that would be underground.
“It’s really a whole new very dense territory that is served” by this vision of the project, underlines Mr. Yaccarini. The proposed section towards downtown would thus pass north of Sherbrooke Street, where the type of soil is “much easier to dig” than it is to the south, notes Mr. Savard.
It would then be possible to build an underground section in the city center in this sector, which CDPQ-Infra had ruled out in its initial vision of the project for technical reasons, he argues, while adding that the proposed section would make it possible to “ relieve congestion on the orange line” of the metro at rush hour.
“The city center is not just a final destination, it’s a place of redirection”, notes the To have to the CEO of the East Montreal Chamber of Commerce (CCEM), Jean-Denis Charest, when called upon to respond to this presentation, whom he salutes. However, “we know that when people have more than one modal transfer, there is a dropout that occurs”, in favor of “autosolo”, he adds.
Over $10 billion
This new vision of the “REM of the East” was not quantified Thursday. Mr. Savard, however, agreed that the $10 billion envelope put on the table by Quebec so far will probably not be enough. “Yes, it’s a big project, but it’s the kind of project that is multiplying on a global scale and that Montreal needs,” insists Mr. Savard, who hopes that the financial aspect of the project will not prevent not the provincial political parties to come out in favor of this project.
“We want the parties to embark on a principle and not on budgets,” he adds.
The two experts indicate that they have already presented their vision to Quebec and the City of Montreal, among others, which have welcomed it with “openness”, according to Mr. Savard.
“Our administration is open to all ideas to improve public transit for the citizens of eastern Montreal, who have been waiting for structural solutions for too long,” reacted Thursday afternoon the cabinet of the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante. , without commenting in more detail on this vision of the project.
The office of the minister responsible for the Metropolis, Chantal Rouleau, also did not comment on this proposal. However, we indicate that we are “confident” that the group chaired by Quebec with the City to analyze the future “REM de l’Est” will come up with a proposal “that meets the mandate granted, and this, from the end of this fall”.
The ARTM declined to comment.