Still offbeat, and even more expensive. The postponement of the southern branch of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM) to the spring of 2023 will lead to further cost overruns, agrees CDPQ Infra, which nevertheless believes that it has made “major progress” in recent years. In Montreal, Valérie Plante does not hide her concern, while in Quebec, we are “impatiently” awaiting a result.
Posted at 11:07
Updated at 9:56 p.m.
“It is clear that there are cost increases. […] We will do an update around the commissioning. You will be shown the rigor and the way in which we managed all the issues related to cost, particularly training and the lack of manpower,” declared the President and Chief Executive Officer of CDPQ Infra, Jean- Marc Arbaud, Friday.
According to the latest news, the REM managed by CDPQ Infra – which excludes the segment to the east, now administered by Quebec and Montreal – is valued at over $7 billion. It is not yet known what the order of the new cost overruns will be.
Thursday, The Press revealed that the leaders of the subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec wanted to avoid at all costs a repeat of the serious accident experienced by the Ottawa light rail in the winter of 2020.
Mr. Arbaud acknowledged from the outset that “the commissioning [du REM] would have taken place in the middle of winter, which is far from ideal for the partners, the users, and for the fact that people [apprivoisent] the project “. Today, low-speed tests are completed on the South Shore up to Central Station. By the end of the month, the high-speed tests will be launched.
Issues to justify
Citing the pandemic, inflation and supply issues, Mr. Arbaud assured that these new delays could hardly have been avoided. “We hadn’t foreseen the war in Ukraine and its consequences either,” he explained. Should further delays be foreseen in the future? “I don’t think so,” he replied.
Julien Hurel, director of transport systems at the REM, admitted that his group was “perhaps a little optimistic” in wanting to deliver the system at the beginning of December. “The decision we take is to say that we must not screw up, that we cannot have a plan B”, he underlined.
A system such as this is designed for users and for the long term, for years, hence our decision. We want to be absolutely certain that the reliability is there, that the trains operate at the highest level.
Jean-Marc Arbaud, President and CEO of CDPQ Infra
Mr. Arbaud also assured the many residents of the South Shore of his empathy, when Quebec will close at the end of October three of the six lanes of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, until the end of 2025. “Unfortunately, it is not realistic to open the system before having passed a certain number of stages which are fundamental. […] We work for users, ”insisted the president.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The commissioning of the south branch of the REM, scheduled for 1er December, will be postponed to spring.
Montreal disappointed and concerned
The political reactions were quick on Friday. The new Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, does not hide the fact that she is “impatiently awaiting the REM”. “The development of major public transit projects is a priority for our government,” she said, adding that she understood that CDPQ Infra would “show caution to ensure the proper functioning” of the section and the safety of passengers. users.
Mayor Valérie Plante’s office said it was “disappointed to learn of the delay in the commissioning of the REM de la Rive-Sud”.
With the imminent start of work on the bridge-tunnel, access to the metropolis from the South Shore will become more complex. We need to offer the population transportation alternatives to the solo car.
Marikym Gaudreault, press officer for the office of the mayor of Montreal
In the office of the mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, we claim to take note of the postponement. “We knew this was a possibility and the Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) was therefore already preparing accordingly,” says press officer Camille Desrosiers-Laferrière.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Aerial view of the future REM Panama station, located in Longueuil
The director of the RTL, Michel Veilleux, is categorical. “We were ready for December with our redesigned network, we will be even more so in the spring,” he says. However, the postponement “assumes that the improvements planned for the various sectors of the agglomeration, which includes the cities of Brossard, Longueuil, Saint-Bruno, Saint-Lambert and Boucherville, be postponed for a few months”, he agrees.
At exo, we assure that the new bus network in the Chambly-Richelieu-Carignan and Le Richelain/Roussillon sectors will be deployed “from day 1 of the commissioning of the South Shore branch”. “We have already begun installing 1,200 new bus stop signs and training drivers,” explains spokesperson Jean-Maxime St-Hilaire.
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) stands ready to deploy a new bus network on L’Île-des-Sœurs when the REM comes into service. “The details surrounding the evolution of the service will be announced at a later date,” said Councilor Renaud Martel-Théorêt on this subject.
With Maxime Bergeron and André Dubuc, The Press
Learn more
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- Third postponement
- This is the third postponement of the South Shore section of the REM. This antenna, which connects Brossard to Montreal’s Central Station via Île des Sœurs, was originally scheduled to be inaugurated at the end of 2021. The schedule was later postponed to spring or summer. 2022, then in the fall of 2022, and finally in the spring of 2023.
cdpq infrastructure
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- 50%
- Approximate proportion (54 out of 106) of REM trains routed to the various sections
SOURCE: cdpq infra
- 98%
- The six stations in the south section of the REM are “98% complete,” said REM project vice-president Denis Rivard, planning to complete them in December. In addition, all of the 16.6 km of rails and electrical systems of the REM’s southern branch have been installed, he explained.
SOURCE: cdpq infra