By Jacob Serebrin The Canadian Press
Posted May 2, 2022 11:40 am
The Quebec government and the City of Montreal are taking over a light rail system proposed for the east end of the province’s biggest city, sending another major infrastructure project back to the drawing board.
Quebec Premier François Legault said Monday that the province’s pension fund manager, which had initially proposed the light rail line serving eastern Montreal, has pulled out of the project, known as the Réseau express métropolitain de l’Est, or REM de l’Est.
READ MORE: REM de l’Est officials propose tunnel for downtown section of light rail network
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec pulled out after the provincial government asked it to change its plans to install an elevated rail line through downtown Montreal, Legault said. Without that leg of the line, the pension fund didn’t think it could make a profit on the project, he added.
“There is no social acceptability” for the elevated section, Legault told reporters. “There are concerns about the impact it would have, among other things, on the beauty of the city.”
Christian Savard, the executive director of Vivre en ville, a Quebec City-based think tank that focuses on urban issues, said he worries that with the project headed back to the planning phase, it will never come to fruition.
“Public transit infrastructure always has difficulty moving forward in Quebec,” he said in an interview Monday.
READ MORE: Chinatown advocates fear REM de l’Est will hurt heritage and community
In Montreal, plans to extend the metro system’s Blue Line have been announced five times over the past 33 years _ most recently in March _ while a rapid bus line on Montreal’s Pie-IX Boulevard is scheduled to open at the end of the year after more than a decade of planning.
In Quebec City, a tramway project had been in the planning phases for more than 20 years before receiving approval from the provincial government in early April. That project was sent back to the drawing board in 2020, after a report from the province’s environmental consultation bureau said it would only offer minimal improvements over existing services.
Also in Quebec City, a “third link” between the city’s downtown and its suburbs across the St. Lawrence River has been discussed since the 1960s. The provincial government recently proposed two tunnels _ at an estimated cost of $6.5 billion. A previous plan for a single $10-billion tunnel underwent major revisions in October over concerns it would lead to increased downtown traffic.
“The projects are always approached piecemeal and without coherent planning,” Savard said. Some projects have stalled as successive governments, drawing support from different areas, have taken power in Quebec City.
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Legault said he’s committed to making the REM de l’Est happen.
“I want to be very clear: in the past, there have been all kinds of excuses that have been used to delay projects,” he said Monday. “People who know me know that I don’t have a lot of patience and I want this project to be completed as quickly as possible. It’s crucial for the development of eastern Montreal.”
The cost of the REM de l’Est had been projected at $10 billion, but Legault said it’s too early to estimate the new price tag. The exact route of the light rail line will now be decided by a committee made up of representatives from the regional transit planning agency, the City of Montreal, the provincial government and the Montreal transit corporation.
READ MORE: Long-awaited extension of Montreal metro’s blue line delayed until 2029
The proposed rail line would be an extension of a larger automated light rail project serving western Montreal and several suburbs. The original REM was conceived and is operated by the pension fund, and the project’s first section — connecting Montreal’s south shore to the city’s downtown — is scheduled to open this fall.
Jean-Philippe Meloche, an urban studies professor at Université de Montréal, said he believes the REM de l’Est could be improved and be cheaper to build. He said the deal with the pension fund made the transit system more expensive than if the government borrowed money on its own to build a similar project, because the profit margin guaranteed to the fund is higher than the interest the government would pay.
“It might be a good train, it might be a good service, but it’s not a good deal,” he said.
Meloche said the original REM benefited from timing. The pension fund was able to install a rail line on the new Samuel De Champlain Bridge, which connects Montreal with its south shore, adding that the provincial government at the time wanted to improve public transit services for its supporters in western Montreal.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
Quebec takes over REM de l'Est project after CDPQ Infra backs out
Montreal mayor calls original plan with elevated tracks 'a historic mistake'
After butting heads with the creators of the REM de l'Est over a plan to install elevated tracks in Montreal's downtown core, Premier François Legault announced that the Quebec government will be taking over the massive public transit project and scrapping its downtown portion.
The original developer, CDPQ Infra — a subsidiary of Quebec's pension fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec — is now out. Legault and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante made the announcement on Monday at a news conference.
Legault said the plan to have elevated tracks did not gain "social acceptability." The province will also explore other major changes as well.
Without the elevated platforms, the project, which came with an initial price tag of $10 billion, is no longer viable for CDPQ Infra, the premier said. He also added that he understands why the developer would no longer want to proceed.
It's not yet clear how these major changes will affect the project's price tag and timeline. The REM de l'Est was first supposed to be completed in 2029.
"People that know me know that I don't have a lot of patience and I want this project to be completed as quickly as possible," Legault said.
"It is crucial for the development of the east end of Montreal."
WATCH | Quebec premier explains why province is stepping in:
On Monday, Plante described the initial plan to have elevated tracks in the eastern part of downtown as a "historic mistake that absolutely had to be avoided."
Plante's concerns were echoed by a report from an expert advisory committee, which said the elevated platforms would be an eyesore and would "fracture" the urban landscape. There were also concerns it would erode the quality of life in nearby neighbourhoods, including the city's historic Chinatown.
Montreal's mayor has long been pushing for the city to have a heavier hand in shaping the public transit project.
Moving forward, the major partners working with the province will be the regional transit planning agency for the greater Montreal area (ARTM), the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), the City of Montreal and the province's Transport Ministry.
The project had already been put on pause after CDPQ Infra sought to delay public environmental hearings this spring.
In a statement, a Québec Solidaire MNA accused the Legault government of being incompetent in matters of public transit.
"The government will finish its mandate with a mess and by not delivering anything concrete to the east end of Montreal in matters of transit," said Alexandre Leduc, who represents the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve riding.
The REM de l'Est was originally set to include 23 stations along 32 kilometres of track, stretching from downtown to the eastern neighbourhoods of Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montréal-Nord, which have long been underserved by public transit, through a mix of underground tunnels and elevated tracks.
'Connection to downtown is key'
The premier outlined four potential changes he wants partners to explore:
- Better integration of the REM de l'Est with the metro Green Line.
- Extending the project to serve municipalities in the Lanaudière region.
- Studying the possibility of building stations in the eastern part of Laval.
- Ensuring the project's "harmonious integration" into the Mercier-Est neighbourhood, where the Souligny station would be built.
The plan to integrate the REM de l'Est with the Green Line raises concerns regarding how easily east-end residents will be able to get downtown.
When asked if Monday's announcement meant there would be no direct link from the east end to the downtown core, Plante said she would defer to the new team of experts who will come up with a new design.
The REM de l'Est was the Caisse's second major public transit project. Its first REM project — which is expected to gradually begin operating between this year and 2024 — will connect the Trudeau International Airport and the West Island with downtown Montreal and the South Shore.
"It's hard to believe that the South Shore and the West Island will be directly connected to downtown and that the east of Montreal will not," said Jean-Denis Charest, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for the city's east end.
"If we really want the east, in 25, 35, 50 years, to be the region that we believe it can be, I do think that a connection downtown is key."
Charest said he understands the need for change in governance with the REM de l'Est, but he stressed that the province should find a way to get the public transit system up and running within ten years.
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