Dorval-Trudeau airport users will have to resign themselves to constantly riding their car, taxi or bus to get downtown and forget about REM for 2024.
Posted at 6:00 am
The Press found that the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) antenna leading to the airport is facing further delays and will no longer serve by the end of 2024 as planned.
This situation affects one of the reasons for the $ 6 billion mega-project, which is to connect the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport to downtown. It appears that the REM airport station will be completed later than expected.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Located downstream from the airport, the future Marie-Curie station, called to serve the industrial park reserved for the high-tech sector, will remain unavailable in service as long as the airport station is not tomorrow.
“Obviously, if there is no station [à l’aéroport en 2024], there is no commissioning of this antenna. We are sitting down with Aéroports de Montréal to define the commissioning areas for the airport antenna, ”said Jean-Vincent Lacroix, spokesman for CDPQ Infra, a subsidiary of Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, which conducts pilot in the network.
“Vehicles have to be able to cycle and then start again,” Mr. Lacroix. We actually put in service through the antenna and not through a separate station. »
Accompanied by The Pressthe mayor of the borough of Saint-Laurent, Alan DeSousa, and those responsible for Technoparc Montréal, who are impatiently waiting for the electric train, seem unaware of the rescheduling of the schedule.
PHILIPPINE PHILIPPE BOIVIN, ARCHIVES SPECIAL INCLUSION
Alan DeSousa, Mayor of the Borough of Saint-Laurent
It is understood that the network section that connects downtown to the South Shore will be inaugurated next fall. The tunnel under Mount Royal will reopen a year later, in the autumn of 2023. The remaining route is scheduled to enter service by the end of 2024. However, this will not be the case for the airport’s antenna.
The airport station is the only one of 26 stations not under the responsibility of NouvLR, a consortium maintained by Caisse to build the REM. Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) is responsible for its development. It was worth 250 million in 2018. The bill more than doubled and reached 600 million. Quebec and Ottawa needed to intervene in April 2021 to advance the money. ADM, a non-profit corporation that manages the Montreal-Trudeau and Mirabel airports, awarded the contract to AECON and EBC at the end of January. Work finally began in mid -March.
In early May, during the company’s annual public meeting, ADM boss Philippe Rainville indicated that the airport station would not be ready in time. We have not yet mentioned the postponement of the commissioning of the entire section connecting the Bois-Franc station to the Montreal-Trudeau airport.
The airport station was already described as a “financial disaster” by Mr. Rainville in November. He claimed that REM would remove ADM from the amount of 5 to 10 million generated through parking fees.
ADM refused to advance a date of entering the service and specified the questions of The Press at CDPQ Infra.
“Bad news”, the borough mayor said
This turnaround will have consequences for Technoparc Montréal, in the borough of Saint-Laurent, which has been punished by this decision. Located downstream from the airport, the future Marie-Curie station, called to serve the industrial park reserved for the high-tech sector, will remain unavailable in service as long as the airport station is not tomorrow.
Any delay is “bad news”, underlined Mayor Alan DeSousa, who added that “everyone is eager” to have access to Marie-Curie station-located on the corner of rue Albert-Einstein and boulevard Alfred Nobel.
In a telephone interview with The PressMr. DeSousa said he was not informed about the postponement of commissioning the REM antenna to serve the airport.
“I can understand for some of the delays already announced, but I want CDPQ Infra to put its foot on the pedal to complete this section as soon as possible,” he said. Service is essential for Technoparc’s economic competitiveness. »
There are 125 companies established in Technoparc. They employ about 6,000 workers. The mayor of the borough of Saint-Laurent says he is talking to other businesses to encourage them to establish themselves there. Ensuring REM is in service on time is a “critical element,” DeSousa said.
Access to a REM station has prompted some companies to settle in Technoparc. We gave the example of Orthogone Technologies, which established itself there in September 2021. “REM is really an argument (among others) to settle on Technoparc”, underlined the director of business development and public relations of Technoparc Montréal, Ludivine Félix, in an email sent to The Press.
On Thursday afternoon, the REM site. the information is not up to date and still announced the commissioning of the airport antenna in 2024.
In collaboration with William Leclerc, The Press