‘This is intolerable’: Griffintown residents deploring incessant REM noise

When Eddie Tkalec and Monelle Carama moved to Griffintown last April, they knew very well the REM was on its way.

In fact, they were thrilled a major transit project was happening so near to them in their new neighbourhood.

“When we first moved here, we saw the REM track,” said Tkalec. “We were very excited about seeing all of this in motion. We saw it being built, we saw it being tested and whatnot.”

Then the launch date neared, and excitement turned to frustration and irritation.

“They had mentioned something to the effect that it shouldn’t be louder than car traffic, louder than a car,” Tkalec recalled.

“And then when they started running at full force in the springtime, we said to ourselves, ‘what on earth is that sound?’”

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One morning after regular-schedule testing began, Tkalec stepped outside at 7:30 a.m. with an app that captures sound levels.

“And I counted the trains and all that went between 78 and 82 decibels. I counted 32 trains in one hour,” he said. “And this was nonstop during rush hour.”

Phone showing decibel levels when REM passes in Griffintown, Sept. 13, 2023. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)

Since Tkalec and Carama are retired, they spend a lot of time at home. That means beings exposed to the REM’s sounds for its 20 hours a day of service.

The couple says it forces them to stay indoors.

“It was just my joy to sit here in the morning, have a coffee, balcony door open, and just enjoy it,” said Carama. “Well this summer, I haven’t opened that balcony door. I haven’t sat out on my balcony. It’s too loud.

“Our summer activities have now become indoors. We can’t open our doors and windows.”

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Residents of condo buildings that line the track have been complaining about the noise well before official service started at the end of July.

CDPQ Infra, a subsidiary of Quebec’s public pension fund that owns and operates the REM, told residents it will release a report and hold information sessions on the noise within the next two weeks. The public sessions will be for Griffintown, Pointe-Saint-Charles, and Nuns’ Island.

“How do they possibly allow this to happen?” said Tkalec. “Where were the engineers when they planned all this? Where were the noise experts and experts in terms of medical professionals who say when you go above these levels, this is going to start affecting people’s health.”

REM in Griffintown Sept. 13, 2023. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)

The REM has used sound barriers near certain parts of the track and installed microphones atop condo buildings to test the sound.

“They made some changes while we were on vacation this summer,” said Carama. “The changes have changed somewhat in terms of the noise, that it doesn’t sound like wheels screeching anymore. Now it’s just rumbling. It’s a loud rumbling. So we’ve changed noise for noise.

“I am willing to take the downtown noise. I am willing to live with cars and sirens and you name it. This is beyond cars and sirens and traffic noise. This is intolerable.”

Despite only being in their new home about 17 months, Tkalec and Carama are strongly considering leaving their condo for good.

“Find us a solution. We have to now move,” said Carama. “We are actively looking for somewhere else to live that’s further away from here. Even though we now have a community in this building, we have friends, we love it. But we have to go. Help us find a way to stay.”