REM | Most stations pushed back to 2024

The delivery of 18 stations of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM), including those in the city center, on the West Island and on the North Shore, will again have to be postponed. In the end, we will have to wait until the end of 2024, as the site is still badly affected by century-old explosives discovered in the Mont-Royal tunnel in July 2020.

Henri Ouellette-Vezina
The Press

In a press release published on Monday, the Caisse de dépôt’s real estate arm indicates that “significant challenges posed by the Mont-Royal tunnel” have forced its teams to “rethink the sequence of tests and trials” for the launch of the REM. . This is said to be done to “avoid shifting the commissioning to 2026”.

Thus, the branches in the city centre, the West and the North Shore – which should be delivered in the fall of 2023, in the spring of 2024 and in the fall of 2024 respectively – will instead be completed by the end of 2024. Together , these three segments represent 18 stations. The South Shore branch, including Brossard and Central Station in particular, is however maintained in the fall of 2022. This portion of the REM, which had already been postponed, was first to be inaugurated in the end of 2021.

As for the route to connect Montreal-Trudeau airport to downtown, CDPQ Infra says it is working with Montreal Airport (ADM) to “optimize the new schedule”. The group hopes to be able to “confirm the date of commissioning of this antenna this fall”. For the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches, we also want to preserve delivery at the end of 2024. If the sequence providing for the commissioning of stations from south to north had been maintained, the REM would not have reaches Deux-Montagnes before 2026, it is claimed.

To maintain the opening of the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme antennas in 2024, CDPQ Infra intends to “reverse” the sequence of its tests, by deploying the tests from its center in Saint-Eustache, rather than in Brossard. . It will then be possible to avoid the Mont-Royal tunnel and not delay the tests.

Impacts still present from explosives

This is not the first time that challenges posed by the Mount Royal tunnel have caused delays in the delivery of the project. In November 2020, the Caisse de dépôt announced with regret that the opening of the branch located under the Mont-Royal tunnel would have to be postponed for 18 months following an “unforeseen” detonation in July. “We had an unexpected detonation during the drilling on July 21. No worker was injured. The most probable cause is an old borehole containing explosive residues, dating from construction between 1912 and 1918,” summed up the president and CEO of CDPQ Infra, Jean-Marc Arbaud, during a press conference.

According to the results of the investigation, the detonation occurred as a result of thermal contact with nitroglycerin residues. In addition to cost overruns, working methods had to be changed quickly. As a security measure, the 30,000 drill holes required during the work had to be carried out using a camera and a remote control system, as a safety measure.

It will therefore not be possible to begin the required commissioning tests in the tunnel before the summer of 2024. The REM project office indicates that the “general conditions of degradation of the central wall of the tunnel vault under the rue McGill College” are also responsible for these extended deadlines, also citing the still clear impacts of COVID-19 in “manpower and supply”.

In an interview given to Montreal Journal, the Fund has acknowledged that these further delays will lead to increased costs. The most recent estimate of 6.9 billion will therefore not be respected, but the final cost is unknown.

The REM team also pointed out that discussions are underway with the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) and Mobilité Montréal to maintain the mitigation measures put in place with the complete closure of the exo Deux-Montagnes line. and obstacles related to the exo Mascouche line. These two commuter train lines used the Mount Royal tunnel before it was closed.

With The Canadian Press