We will ultimately have to wait until 2024 to know the results of the work to reduce noise from the Réseau express métropolitain (REM). The work will continue at night until the return of the holidays, the weather conditions of recent weeks having “slowed down” certain operations, says CDPQ Infra.
“The work to install the dynamic absorbers and acoustic grinding will continue over the coming weeks. The weather conditions of recent weeks have notably slowed down the installation of dynamic absorbers,” explains the organization’s director of media relations, Michelle Lamarche, by email.
Her group will be able to provide a first analysis of the results of the work on noise “at the beginning of 2024”, she adds.
According to the first measurements taken by the sound level meters installed on the tracks, “we are confident that the mitigation measures identified will allow us to reduce the noise when cars pass by between 5 and 10 dBA,” explains M.me Lamarche on this subject.
Last Friday, CDPQ Infra announced that its planned service interruptions would no longer be necessary in the evening, from Sunday to Thursday. Since October 15, the REM no longer runs after 10 p.m. in the evening between the Panama and Gare Centrale stations to carry out noise-related work. These were initially supposed to last six weeks.
The Caisse de dépôt subsidiary announced at the end of September that acoustic grinding would be carried out on the rails by November. This essentially amounts to polishing the rails to reduce the noise of friction with the train as it passes.
Dynamic absorbers also had to be added by December to reduce the propagation of vibrations on the rails. It is this last measure which ultimately takes more time than expected, but it can be carried out at night, between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., without affecting REM service hours. The addition of new noise walls has already been ruled out by CDPQ Infra to reduce train noise.
Earlier this summer, measures taken by The Press with a sound level meter showed that the noise generated by the REM regularly exceeds 70 decibels, particularly in the Pointe-Saint-Charles district, sometimes even the 75 decibel mark.
The situation then concerned Montreal Public Health, but also many local residents exasperated by the disruption to their daily lives, forcing the Caisse de dépôt to launch a sound test campaign. It was at the end of this that the decision to carry out new work was taken.
Ultimately, the noise mitigation work should cost “a few million, less than ten,” indicated the president and CEO, Jean-Marc Arbaud, who does not see a budgetary issue.
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- 8 billion
- According to the most recent evaluation dating from the beginning of September, the REM will ultimately cost nearly 8 billion, an increase of 45% compared to the initial estimate of the project. Unsurprisingly, CDPQ Infra cited the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the discovery of century-old explosives in the Mont-Royal tunnel to explain this increase.
source: CDPQ INFRA