CANADA: The Deux-Montagnes branch of Montréal’s Réseau Express Métropolitain was inaugurated by Prime Minister Mark Carney on November 14 and opened to passengers the following day, tripling the length of the automated metro. About 250 000 trips were made during the inaugural weekend when services were free ahead of the start of revenue operations on November 17.
The second phase of the REM project runs along a former commuter rail line from Gare Centrale to Deux-Montagnes on the North Shore, adding 33 km and 14 stations to the REM. It now totals 50 km and connects both the North Shore and South Shore to the city centre.
‘The REM is a world-class infrastructure project that connects Montréal, creates thousands of high-paying careers, and catalyses innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors’, said Carney. ‘As Québec’s largest public transit project in half a century, the REM is testament to our ambition to build big, build bold and build Québec strong so we can build Canada strong.’
Mayor of Montréal Soraya Martinez Ferrada said ‘this new connection propels our city into modernity by offering mobility worthy of the world’s great metropolises’.
Premier of Québec François Legault said the opening ‘marks an important milestone for the people of the North Shore, who will finally be served by a fast and frequent public transit system. The REM network is taking shape, and we can see that it will profoundly change mobility across Greater Montréal. But it also shows that Québec has the expertise to deliver world-class infrastructure projects. We need these major projects now more than ever. The world has changed very quickly, and we absolutely must adapt.’
REM development
The REM, which is separate from Montréal’s established rubber-tyred metro network, is being developed by public pension and insurance investor La Caisse and CDPQ Infra.
The first 16·6 km section from Gare Centrale to Brossard on the South Shore of the St Lawrence River opened in July 2023.
Alstom has supplied the railway systems, including 106 two-car trainsets, Urbalis CBTC supporting GoA4 unattended automatic operation, the Urbalis Vision control centre technology, platform screen doors, onboard wi-fi connectivity and cybersecurity.
Operations and maintenance are the responsibility of the Pulsar joint venture of Alstom and AtkinsRéalis.
’This new section, which offers a state-of-the-art, fully electric, automated and high-frequency metro system, will transform the lives of thousands of residents of Montreal and its North Shore who travel daily, enabling them to do so efficiently, comfortably and safely’, said Michael Keroullé, President & CEO of Alstom in the Americas. ‘More specifically, this extension will allow them to cross Mont Royal in less than 3 min.’
Further expansion
The Anse-à-l’Orme branch is expected to open in spring 2026, and a branch to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport in 2027, taking the REM to 67 km and 26 stations.
CDPQ Infra said the REM has been built ‘at about half the price of the least costly projects in North America, and sometimes at a third of the price, depending on the comparisons’.
Charles Emond, President & CEO of La Caisse, said ‘the REM is an historic project carried out under exceptional circumstances’ with the pandemic. ‘Yet it was completed at a fraction of the cost and within very tight timelines compared to other transportation projects in North America. Building such a network in seven years, during a pandemic and despite major obstacles, is an extraordinary achievement.’
