CANADA: The appearance of the trains to be supplied for Montréal's Réseau Express Métropolitain automated light metro project was revealed by the Alstom-led Groupe PMM consortium on March 29.

The 106 two-car trainsets will be part of Alstom's Metropolis family.

The manufacturer said the vehicles would be designed 'to perfectly fuse with the green spaces of the city', offering passengers 'breathtaking views' through the large windows.

The green and white livery selected by the public is inspired by the new Samuel De Champlain Bridge which is currently under construction, with the headlights 'directly recalling' the stays of the bridge.

The cars will have wide doors to facilitate passenger flow, with vibration mitigation and real-time passenger information systems.

The 67 km REM with 26 stations will be one of the world's largest automated transport networks when it is complete, connecting the south shore suburbs in the east with the city centre and having western branches to the airport, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and Deux-Montagnes. Opening of the first section is planned for mid-2021.

In April 2018 project promoter CDPQ Infra awarded the C$5bn infrastructure engineering, procurement and construction contract to the Groupe NouvLR consortium of SNC-Lavalin Grands Projets, Dragados Canada, Groupe Aecon Québec, Pomerleau, EBC and AECOM.

The Groupe PMM consortium of Alstom and SNC-Lavalin is responsible for the rolling stock and railway systems, including Urbalis 400 CBTC signalling, the control centre, platform screen doors, wi-fi, depot equipment, as well as 30 years of operations and maintenance. Alstom´s share of the C$2·8bn contract is estimated at C$2·2bn.