The cynicism of future users is at its height after the announcement of a further postponement of the delivery of the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme lines of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) to the fall of 2025.
“We no longer believe in their deadlines,” summarizes Carole Ménard, who lives a stone’s throw from the future Île-Bigras station, in Laval.
The 71-year-old retiree is not surprised by this new postponement, almost four years after the commuter train on the Deux-Montagnes line stopped.
It takes him about 1 hour 20 minutes by bus to get to Saint-Eustache for his wind orchestra’s rehearsals, twice as long as by train.
“It’s 7.4 km from my house, it’s completely stupid,” she criticizes.
Horizon 2025
The subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec responsible for the project, CDPQ Infra, is now targeting fall 2025 for the commissioning of the north and west antennas.
“They have not respected any deadline since the announcement of the project,” rages Josée Riopel, who lives near the future Sunnybrooke station, on the Deux-Montagnes line.
The 63-year-old changed jobs so she wouldn’t have to commute downtown. She has no intention of setting foot there until there is a train.
Photo Agence QMI, Joël Lemay
Work in the Mont-Royal tunnel will ultimately extend until this winter, so that tests can begin thereafter.
CDPQ Infra estimates that this new postponement will cost an additional $392 million, bringing the net cost of the project to $8.34 billion.
Interruptions to be expected
Starting in January, the tests will cause service interruptions on the South Shore line from Central Station to Brossard.
The service will be interrupted every weekend, from February to June, for the migration of the control center to Brossard and testing of the complete network.
A complete closure of four to six weeks is expected during the summer. Dates remain to be determined.
If he had difficulty believing in CDPQ Infra’s schedule for two years, transport planning expert Pierre Barrieau is more optimistic for the future.
“It was obvious that it couldn’t open at the start of the year, but now we are at a stage of the construction where there will be no big surprises. We are in the finishing stages, the end of the project,” underlines the consultant and lecturer in winter 2024.
However, he fears an opening just before winter, given the multiple breakdowns after commissioning on the South Shore in the fall of 2023.
“If I were them, I might have waited until spring 2026,” he says.
A growing bill
- Cost announced in 2016: 5,5 G$
- Cost after tender, after adding stations: 6,3 G$
- Cost after the problems in the Mont-Royal tunnel: 7,95 G$
- Cost after postponements in 2025: 8,34 G$
Yet another postponement for the North and West lines
• Initial delivery date: end of 2023.
• June 2022 : postponement to the end of 2024 due to work in the Mont-Royal tunnel.
• July 2024: new date set in 2025, attributed to persistent technical challenges.
• November 2024 : delivery scheduled for fall 2025.
With Charles Mathieu
Do you have any information to share with us about this story?
Write to us at or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.
