The start of operation of the branch of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) linking downtown Montreal to Brossard will not be able to take place in time for the next school year due in particular to labor issues and supply in the context of the pandemic.
The duty was able to confirm on Friday that the entry into service of this first line of the light rail of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec will be two to three months late compared to its last schedule, which was in the summer of 2022. Residents of the South Shore who study in Montreal will therefore have to wait before being able to take the REM to get to their classes, if necessary, since this service will not be ready for the next school year, at the end of August, a indicated a source.
On Friday evening, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) also confirmed that it had recently informed transport companies in the greater Montreal area that the REM will not be in service “before September 14, 2022” in order to give eight months’ notice to them. “For all players, this notice makes it possible to ensure coordination of complementary networks (including buses) in order to optimize the experience and the efficiency of travel for public transport users”, adds a spokesperson for the ARTM, Simon Charbonneau.
The pandemic in question
The pandemic is unsurprisingly at the heart of this delay, our sources say. In particular, this forced a revision of working methods to adapt them to health constraints, which reduced the pace of progress on the site. Employees also had to go into isolation due to positive COVID-19 cases reported on the worksite or in factories that supply REM parts.
The disruptions in the supply chains of various materials in the context of the health crisis have also delayed the construction of the REM, we add behind the scenes.
Joined by The duty, the spokesperson for the REM project office, Jean-Vincent Lacroix, was unable to confirm that the commissioning of this REM branch will be delayed by a few months. “In the current health context, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain this objective. [d’une entrée en fonction à l’été 2022] for the Rive-Sud branch,” he agreed.
This is not the first delay in the realization of this branch of the light rail project, which will travel on the Champlain Bridge to reach the south shore of Montreal. Initially, it was scheduled to come into operation at the end of 2021, but a six-month postponement of this schedule was announced in the fall of 2020, in particular due to the temporary suspension of construction sites at the start of the pandemic.
An official date for the commissioning of the branch of the REM to the South Shore will now have to be determined in coordination with the other transport companies in the Montreal region to avoid logistical problems. This delay could particularly cause headaches for users of the Longueuil transport network, foresees the president of Trajectoire Québec, François Pepin. The transport company has been operating bus lines for several decades linking the South Shore and downtown Montreal via the Champlain Bridge. However, these must cease to operate when the REM comes into operation.
“Users will start to move in a certain way [à la rentrée scolaire] and a month or two later, they will have to completely change the way they move. So it’s not obvious. It can lead to a lot of confusion,” foresees Mr. Pepin. Especially since “it will entail costs for the RTL”, which is already in a bad financial position, he adds.
As for the financial impacts of this delay, these should be covered by the $200 million contingency envelope put in place to deal with the unforeseen events of the pandemic, according to our information.
The timetable for the entry into service of the other branches of the REM has not yet been revised. In all, this project calls for the development of 26 stations over a distance of 67 km in order to connect, in particular, the west of the city and the Montréal-Trudeau airport to downtown, in addition to providing service to the South. The last antenna should come into operation at the end of 2024.