Valérie Plante does not fear replaying in the same film as in Quebec, even if it is a tramway which will ultimately be recommended to the Legault government to replace the REM de l’Est at 36 billion. “No matter the method,” adds the elected official, we must now move forward to develop the metropolis.
“The answer is no, to the extent that Mr. Legault committed himself just before Christmas […] by saying that it is a desire that there be a structuring means of transport in the east,” replied the mayor of Montreal, while we compared her situation with that of the mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand.
The latter saw its tram project return to the drawing board by being entrusted to CDPQ Infra, at the end of 2023, after years of debate and when preparatory work had even been launched.
Friday, The Press revealed that it is a tramway which will ultimately be recommended to the Legault government to replace the REM de l’Est rather than the 36 billion underground route proposed last summer. According to our sources, this change would reduce the cost to around 13 billion.
The proposed tramway would have 31 kilometers of rails and 28 stations, spaced 1.1 kilometers apart on average. A report from the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) will be submitted to the government at the end of January or the beginning of February to detail this new proposal.
In Quebec, Mayor Marchand indicated that he will take note of the ARTM’s analysis. “I’m going to read everything. I will inform myself. I don’t dissociate, I don’t detach myself. It’s important,” he said. But for the future, he wants to “move on to something else”. “Quebec is not just a tramway. I still believe in the tram. This is not a rejection. […] The government takes the ball back and gives itself six months to do an analysis, we will collaborate. Now that the government responds, let the Fund respond. »
Slower, but…
Mme Plante, however, persists: the tram remains a slower mode. “CDPQ Infra was still chosen by the government saying: we are making an elevated train because the tram is too slow. I base myself mainly on what the experts have said. »
That said, the mayor now says she wants to focus on speeding up the process, for the benefit of citizens. “No matter the mode, if we want to have campuses, if we want to develop housing, if we want to have green spaces, we need public transportation. […] Regardless of the means of transport, it must be efficient and fast,” she insisted.
By remaining cautious, Mme Plante recalled that it will be up to the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, to decide. “It is also up to her to comment first on the merits, as she has the report in her hands. »
However, in the minister’s office, we are being rather stingy with comments for the moment, indicating that we want to take the time to carefully analyze the ARTM report before moving forward further.
In opposition to Montreal city hall, councilor Julien Hénault-Ratelle believes that the east of the island has waited long enough. “Studies must be published quickly. Montreal is excluded from the decision-making table: the mayor is not playing her leadership role. Unless she hopes that it is the Quebec government that makes the decisions for Montreal? », he asked himself.
Ambient “lack of will”
At Trajectoire Québec, general director Sarah V. Doyon especially hopes that this new tram idea is not just a “trial balloon”. “This is what we all find a little discouraging in transport these days: there is a lack of will to actually bring projects to fruition. There, we have to move forward,” she said.
“If it falls within the price range that elected officials are prepared to authorize, then let’s go for it, but let’s not procrastinate for another 10 or 20 years. We need to provide the east with a structuring project, it’s urgent,” persists Mme Doyon.
However, she also recognizes that the tram “will necessarily be slower than an aerial or underground mode”. “That said, if the route makes it possible to reach several travel generators in the east, it remains very interesting. And it would especially be a shame to have nothing at all to get to the city center efficiently,” concludes the DG, saying above all that it looks forward to seeing the developments in the file.
With Philippe Teisceira-Lessard and Gabriel Béland, The Press