Achi news desk-
Completion of Montreal’s Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM) has been delayed again.
Officials blame “extremely complex” work on the Mont-Royal tunnel for the delay, and say the DuMont and Anse-et-l’Orme branches will not open until the end of the year as planned.
In a work update issued Wednesday, REM officials said they are still working to modernize the Mont-Royal Tunnel, a century-old infrastructure that runs through the mountain.
As a result, technical tests have not yet begun, and the second phase of the network connecting the North Shore, Laval and the West Island to downtown Montreal will not take place at the end of 2024 as planned.
In its update, the REM did not specify a new timetable, saying that the start date of phase two is “to be determined”.
According to Radio-Canada, the first media outlet to report the news on Wednesday, things aren’t expected to get underway until early 2025.
Before they can start testing the tunnel, the REM still needs to install bollards, sensors and 600km of electrical cables.
The organization insists that the workers are in the field “day and night, seven days a week” to maintain the pace of work in the tunnel.
Technical tests will begin “in the coming weeks” between Deux-Montagnes and Sainte-Dorothée stations and will be gradually extended to the entire network during the summer.
The launch of the REM was marked by many delays.
One branch is currently in service, connecting downtown Montreal to Broussard on the South Shore.
She welcomed her first passengers last summer.
— This Canadian Press report was first published in French on April 24, 2024.
