MONTRÉAL, Nov. 14, 2024 /CNW/ – Work in the Mont-Royal Tunnel is progressing and our dynamic tests are going well on the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches. As a result, CDPQ Infra is targeting fall 2025 for the next commissioning of the REM.
Cars have already been circulating on the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme segments for a few weeks at commercial speed. The precise timing of commissioning will be determined based on the success of the next steps outlined in the following plan:
Un train du Réseau express métropolitain (REM), sur le pont Samuel-De Champlain, à Montréal. (CNW Group/CDPQ Infra Inc.)
Winter 2025
- Prepare tracks to roll out testing across the network
- Finalize work in the Mont-Royal Tunnel
- Progressively migrate operations from the temporary control centre in Saint-Eustache to the permanent control centre in Brossard
Spring 2025
- Start testing in the tunnel and across the network
Summer 2025
- Ramp up testing across the network
Fall 2025
- Conduct dry run
- Commissioning
Starting in 2025, branch integration tests will require necessary modifications to the REM service. In January, service will be interrupted earlier in the evening on weekends. From February to April, service will be interrupted for entire weekends. In April, there will be interruptions on weeknights. Lastly, a shutdown of four to six weeks will be required during off-peak periods in summer 2025 to allow us to ramp up testing and finalize the integration, followed by commissioning in the fall.
These service interruptions between Brossard and Gare Centrale have been planned around peak and high traffic periods to allow the conducting of the work and testing necessary to integrate all branches, while limiting the impact on our customers. With our transit partners and the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable, we will put in place a temporary service plan that will meet the needs of our riders throughout this transition period.
Update on project cost
Postponing commissioning to 2025 and extending the period to build the network resulted in additional net costs of $392 million. This increase is due both to the extension of construction work on the entire network and to the completion of the Mont-Royal Tunnel. The net cost of the project is now $8.34 billion, up 4.9% from our last financial update over a year ago. The REM’s per-kilometre cost is $125 million, well below the best comparable projects in North America.
Rigorous and agile project management allowed CDPQ Infra to continue executing the project in an extremely restrictive context impacted by a series of major events, such as the discovery of hundred-year-old dynamite in a tunnel in an advanced state of deterioration, a global pandemic and a sharp increase in inflation. As has been the case to date, CDPQ Infra bears all these additional costs.
Update on the REM’s performance
Since last May, we have met our target availability rate for the REM, considering the number of outages of 20 minutes or more that affected the network. While our goal is to maintain an availability rate of 99%, our rate has been 99.5% since August 1. We had no service outages of 20 minutes or more in September and only one in October. Regular updates to our systems and the experience gained by our operators have made it possible to achieve this result. In addition, the level of ridership observed on the South Shore branch reached new peaks of 45,000 rides per day since September.
“We are heading toward the next commissioning with confidence and a firm desire to limit the impacts on our riders. Our teams and partners have demonstrated a great amount of ingenuity and passion to keep moving forward despite the obstacles. When we compare the REM to other transportation projects around the world, it is rolling out quickly and at a lower cost, despite exceptionally difficult construction conditions in the last few years. We can be proud of what we are doing here.”
– Jean-Marc Arbaud, President and Chief Executive Officer, CDPQ Infra
SOURCE CDPQ Infra Inc.
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