The Caisse de dépôt does not hide its “concern” about the phenomena of unauthorized intrusion on the tracks, which once again disrupted the service of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) and the metro on Thursday morning.
Posted at 9:12 a.m.
Updated at 11:49 a.m.
“It’s not the first time this has happened. We are concerned, but our systems are capable of detecting each intrusion within seconds. It is therefore not a question of danger to life, but above all of service, because we must stop the system immediately,” responded Thursday the vice-president of operations of CDPQ Infra, Denis Andlauer, at a press conference.
The REM had to suspend its service in both directions shortly before 9 a.m. The trains were able to resume their journey around 9:20 a.m. Around 8:35 a.m., metro service was interrupted on the entire orange line after the presence of an unauthorized person was noted on the rails . Fortunately, here again, the wagons were able to start rolling again after stopping for around ten minutes.
Mr. Andlauer maintains that his teams must “continue to explain” to the population the dangers of such an activity. “Everyone should know that we are talking about a fully automated system, which passes every 5 minutes. It’s not a train that passes at times,” he said.
“People need to change their behavior. We cannot cross the lines, even if you cut the barrier,” added the manager. The president and CEO of CDPQ Infra, Jean-Marc Arbaud, says he is “satisfied” with the response of his teams during intrusions, and assures that the system “is very secure”.
Last May, the Caisse de dépôt subsidiary launched a vast communication campaign intended to be impactful, in order to implore users not to venture onto the rails, at a time when dynamic tests were then underway. about to be launched on the Deux-Montagnes section.
“To save 5 minutes, are you willing to spend 5 months in a coma? », We could read, among other things, on one of the signs that were installed in bus shelters and other installations near the REM rails. Other slogans like “to cut your journey, would you have your legs cut off?” » or “to take on a challenge, would you be willing to never take it again? » were used.
This phenomenon of intrusion is a concern almost everywhere in public transportation. In April, The Press had revealed that drones have been patrolling the REM tunnels under construction since a young man entered one of them last summer. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) had also carried out checks on certain videos published on social networks where we can see urbex fans accessing a moving train operator’s box.
With Jean-Philippe Arcand, The Press
