Have you taken Highway 10, between the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge and the DIX30, recently? If so, you’ve seen what the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) will look like in the end.
I admit that when I discovered the catenary equipment (overhead cables), I was startled. I knew we had opted for this system, but I didn’t think it would be… so present. We will tell ourselves, the result is frankly hideous.
I went back to see the illustrations-models of the first phase of the REM which have been relayed since the unveiling of the project, and let’s say that the painting to which we are entitled is not quite like the photos.
Reality has nothing to do with the slick, slick images we’ve been shown for years.
First, there are these cables, very numerous in places, then the beams which support them and, finally, the concrete walls overhung with fences which protect the tracks. For design and beauty, we will come back.
This is particularly striking when the REM tracks are level with the roadway, as is the case between the Panama and Brossard stations. The section between the L’Île-des-Sœurs station and the Central station is less shocking, because it can be seen from a distance.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY CDPQ INFRA
View of the axis of Autoroute 10, on the South Shore
For months, teams have been working on the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge to finalize the REM tracks on the central deck. The installation of the catenary will not be long in coming. I dare not imagine what it will give.
The peculiarity of this bridge lies in its sleek appearance. Every detail (contemporary lighting system with defined lines) has been designed to offer an architecture that rejects the superfluous.
Imagine the result once the cables of the REM pass through this structure. If I were in the shoes of the bridge designers, I wouldn’t be happy.
We have known since the start of the project that the designers of the REM chose a power supply system transmitted by catenary rather than by third rail. CDPQ Infra justifies this decision by our sometimes harsh climate in the winter season.
“What matters to us is the reliability of the service,” said Virginie Cousineau, director of public affairs at CDPQ Infra. Yes, we see examples of third rail power in Moscow and Helsinki, but their conditions are not comparable to ours. ”
Okay, but could we have chosen a lighter, more discreet catenary? “Yes,” resumes Virginie Cousineau. But it is especially designed for trams. It would not be enough to make our trains move at high speed. ”
This explanation is far from satisfying Gérard Beaudet, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal. “You can never trust what CDPQ Infra says. It is an indefensible form of governance and we are going to pay the price for it. They make silo equipment choices that they then impose on us. For a few weeks now, I’ve been hearing people say to me: ‘Here we see the results.’ Indeed, we discover the result, but it is frankly too late. ”
The purpose of the first phase of the REM should help us make more informed choices regarding the Eastern REM, particularly for the downtown portion. In a note sent to me, CDPQ Infra states that it is already planned that a catenary power system will be used for the second phase.
I find it hard to see how the magmas of cables on an airway could cross the heart of Montreal without making it ugly. We would then take a sad step backwards.
CDPQ Infra works with thinking from the 60s.
Gérard Beaudet, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal
In a document submitted last June during the public consultations surrounding the REM de l’Est project, the Ordre des architectes du Québec, which does not wish to comment on the result of the first phase, said it was “worried” about the choice of ‘a catenary system for the rest of things.
“The catenary network is one of the elements that are part of the risks of this project,” explains Pierre Corriveau, president of the Ordre des architectes du Québec. Taken individually, these elements can represent a solution. The problem is, their accumulation makes success unlikely. ”
CDPQ Infra affirms that “particular attention will accompany the architectural treatment of the catenary supports” of the next phase. “Our approach is completely different for phase 2,” says Virginie Cousineau. Phase 1 is largely motorway. The Eastern REM will cross residential areas. It is certain that we have a serious reflection on the presence of the catenary system. ”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CABINET ZJA
The “fishnet stockings”, a 400 m structure inaugurated in 2006 in The Hague to accommodate a tram-train
In a report recently published in The Press +, my colleague Maxime Bergeron reported experiences and examples of light trains in Denmark, the Netherlands and France. In The Hague, they created a futuristic structure called “fishnet stockings” in which trains run. It is used to camouflage the equipment while offering an architectural signature to the city.
This is the kind of example to look to when the time comes to develop the Eastern MER.
Pierre Corriveau would like to warn you, however.
We are being given a lot of international examples right now. You have to be careful, because very often, an urban framework has grown around these structures. We, for certain portions of the project, are about to plant something in an already well-established framework.
Pierre Corriveau, President of the Order of Architects of Quebec
The next phase of the REM will bring together engineers, town planners, architects and landscape architects. “Unfortunately, the project was not conceived as such from the start,” says Pierre Corriveau, who also believes that we should stop attributing responsibility for the beauty of the project to architects.
“Architects cannot respond to an order that is irrelevant,” he says. The beauty and intelligence of a project must come together, and from the start. If you’ve got something extremely fancy, but it’s irrelevant, you’ll swear. ”
For months, a committee of independent experts has been working on a plan to integrate the Eastern REM into the urban landscape. There is no doubt that the group’s recommendations will be one of the highlights at the start of 2022. The report is due in the first quarter of the year.