Gare Centrale REM station elevator has been out of service due to complex equipment failure

An elevator at the Gare Centrale REM station in downtown Montreal has been out of service for more than two weeks.

Julien Gascon-Samson – who uses a mobility scooter – must use the elevator if he wants to have access to the light-rail train. It hasn’t worked since August 6, and the new rapid transit system only opened at the end of July.

“It’s completely unacceptable. The system launched only, I think, three weeks and a half ago. So basically the elevator only worked for six days and that was it,” said Gascon-Samson.

“It’s extremely frustrating because we are commuters like anyone else. We paid, I pay my Opus card. It’s a public service, so public service should be available to everyone. And the problem also is that there’s no other measures that are put in place. So, for example, if the train breaks down, other measures are offered. For example, they provide shuttle buses between the different ground stations. It’s all organized, but if there’s an elevator outage, there’s just no other possibility”.

Gascon-Samson also says he can’t understand why the elevator was built without a backup.

“Why they haven’t built two elevators, especially at Gare Centrale. It’s probably the most popular and most important station of the system so far. And there’s only one elevator. So if it breaks down, a lot of people will be penalized.

Steven Laperrière, the general manager for RAPLIQ – a Quebec organization that advocates for the fundamental rights of people with disabilities – says that it doesn’t make sense that it takes more than 24 hours to repair the elevator.

“I cannot believe that in 2023 you cannot plan that, that you cannot have spare parts ready for when it breaks. If you’re in a wheelchair, unable to transfer yourself, what are you going to do? What can you do? So the transit system operators have a responsibility towards those people, and they’re not taking their responsibility seriously when it comes to that,” said Laperrière.

CityNews Montreal reached out to the REM for comment on this issue and they tell us that in the case of the Gare Centrale’s elevator, a complex equipment failure occurred, and they will have to carry out some work to resolve the situation. They add that they hope to resolve it soon, but did not provide a timeline.

REM does note that that all other elevators fully operational.

“It’s a catastrophic failure. I’m completely disillusioned,” said Gascon-Samson. “I feel like I’m getting back from vacation. Basically, I’m going to have to drive myself to work, which is something that I don’t want to do. I want to use public transit, you know, as anyone else. I hope that gets fixed really soon. And I hope they really improve the reliability.”