REM work stalls Deux-Montagnes train service on weekends starting next month
Preliminary construction on new light-rail system will mean disruptions but bus service will be provided
The first round of work on the city's new light-rail train system (REM) will mean disruptions for users of the existing Deux-Montagnes commuter line.
Starting April 27, there will be no more weekend train service on that line from Friday at 8 p.m. until Monday morning.
Eleven trains circulate on Deux-Montagnes line on both Saturday and Sunday, carrying about 4,600 passengers.
Macky Tall, president and CEO of CDPQ Infra, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec subsidiary responsible for the light-rail project, said regular weekday train service would not be affected.
Tall said 97 per cent of passengers on the Deux-Montagnes line use it from Monday to Friday.
Initial work in the affected area will include short-term surveying, geotechnical drilling and temporary construction that will precede the REM's permanent infrastructure.
Take bus instead
"We will work with partners to provide a bus replacement service during the work," said Tall.
Details about the exact schedule for these buses has yet to be released, which will be in collaboration between the Réseau de transport métropolitain (RTM), Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and Société de transport de Laval (STL).
A broader calendar of projected construction work for the light-rail is expected to be announced next month.
"The improvement of the Deux-Montagnes service is necessary and essential, long-term, due to its current saturation," read a statement put out by the REM Tuesday morning.
"The REM will multiply the capacity of the line, with a 400 per cent increase in the number of departures and a higher number of passengers."
CPDQ Infra announced last month that a consortium of SNC-Lavalin and Pomerleau have been tapped to build the infrastructure for the $6.3-billion light-rail project.
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About 30 to 40 per cent of the project is set to be completed by summer 2021.
When it was first announced, authorities said it would be done by the fall of 2020.