After nearly four years without commuter rail, residents of Deux-Montagnes and surrounding areas are impatiently awaiting the arrival of REM to ease their commute to downtown Montreal. However, they will have to wait until 2025 due to problems with the Mont-Royal tunnel.
“We can’t move forward [la date de mise en marche du REM] Because our priority is to focus on the end of the tunnel work, which is actually working on the critical path of the project,” explained Jean-Philippe Pelletier, principal director for the western part of the REM project at CDPQ Infra, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
Pending the completion of this work, tests are being carried out on the Deux-Montagnes line. Additionally, the Deux-Montagnes station is in its final stages. Unlike the EXO rail boarding platform, the REM platform is built to protect users from inclement weather. Incentive parking for over 1,200 vehicles will be provided to users.
Fears related to noise
Residents living near the line connecting Deux-Montagnes to the city center fear experiencing a situation similar to what Griffintown residents experienced with noise.
“I am 100 steps away from the station. Let’s see what happened [avec la ligne] “On the South Shore, we can clearly see that it’s very worrying,” noted Carol Menard, who lives on Pigras Street in Laval.
However, Jean-Philippe Pelletier believes that residents of the north coast will not experience the same problems.
“The REM on the north coast doesn’t necessarily make the same noise as the south coast. why Because the structures it sits on are not the same. On the south bank, we use a lot of steel beams. Here, in Deux-Montagnes, we are more on stabilization and concrete beams, so the vibration is not the same,” he underlined.
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