The REM de l’Est will not be in Mercier-Est but in the Sherbrooke Street axis, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault confirmed on Monday, as a first preliminary report on the audited project is due to be made public this week.
Posted at 12:58pm
“You will see that we have officially abandoned the aerial section for the more sensitive section at Mercier-Est, so this is good news for citizens,” Ms Guilbault announced a new train control system on the blue line on the sidelines of a press conference on Monday.
The minister asserts that there will still be room for improvement “in the Sherbrooke axis”. “Essentially three segments remain: the Lacordaire Axis, the L’Assomption Axis, which runs around Mercier-Est, and the Sherbrooke Axis. Air would remain in the third axis: Sherbrooke, toward Pointe-aux-Trembles,” she explained.
However, in the “middle part,” she repeated, “the air is shut out.” “And on the other axis, towards Marie-Victorin, it’s already underground,” she insisted. According to our information, the central part of Mercier-Est could be buried, but this option is not yet 100% guaranteed.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Genevieve Guilbault
Ms Guilbault, at the same time, recalled that a first “interim report of the committee” prepared by Quebec, Montreal, the Department of Transportation (MTQ) and the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM) “will be published by the end of the week”. I remind you that this is a preliminary report, a final report is expected in June,” she said.
According to Mayor Valérie Plante’s office, this “shows that the working group, in which Montreal participates with its partners, improves the project by being sensitive to the needs of the population”. “It is the citizens of the East who are ahead because they will be able to benefit from a solution that leaves no scars in their communities,” said spokeswoman Catherine Cadotte.
In the official opposition of Montreal, we also welcome “the listening of the working group of the REM de l’Est 2.0 project, which has listened to the citizens of Mercier-Est”. “The latter finally have the certainty that integration in the industry will not be made out of thin air. We are impatiently awaiting the publication of the interim report,” says government councilor Julien Hénault-Ratelle.
As already announced, the section with connections to the city center has so far been excluded from the project. The fully automated REM de l’Est has been the subject of heated debate since CDPQ Infra withdrew from the project, with several citizens and experts opposed to the air mode, which they say would create an “urban divide” in life.
A demonstration in sight
All of this comes as a demonstration by Collectif en Environnement Mercier-Est (CEM-E) and organization Mobilization 6600 is scheduled for Monday night on the fringes of the Montreal City Council to urge elected community officials to “reject all neighborhood cable cars and give the ARTM.” the assignment, the time and the means to study the needs before making a decision on the chosen means of transport”.
“The interview with Mayor Plante at the end of the year indicates that the chosen option will be directly inspired by CDPQ Infra’s REM de l’Est, a draft. This is worrying and totally unacceptable,” stressed Daniel Chartier, Vice President of the CEM-E.
He is referring to an interview that Ms. Plante gave to Marc-André Carignan on Radio Canada at the end of December. “There will be suggestions, but first of all we’re keeping part of the air structure because you have to know we’re still keeping the REM model. But the big change is that it’s not happening in the city center. And I dream that there is another connection that leads to the city center. But of course it has to be a model that respects density,” the mayor said.
The original REM is still under construction. This 67-kilometer automated network will connect downtown to the South Shore, Montréal-Trudeau Airport, the West Island and Deux-Montagnes. The first leg of the project, the South Shore, was recently postponed and is scheduled to open later this spring.
Just under a year ago, Prime Minister François Legault promised a second phase on the South Shore, a “very nice extension” of the REM between Brossard and Boucherville. It indicated a quick announcement. However, studies at CDPQ Infra are still ongoing, scalded by the controversy surrounding the REM de l’Est. We want to ensure the social acceptance of the project. The urban integration of the REM into the Boulevard Taschenreau and Vieux-Longeuil axis is an important issue.
Extensions towards Laval and Lanaudière are also still being studied to create a comprehensive integrated metropolitan network.