REM stations delayed: West Island and North Shore

The completion of Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has been delayed yet again.

Officials are saying the “complexity of the work” in the Mont-Royal tunnel are to blame and that the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches will not open by the end of the year as planned.

In an update published on Wednesday, REM officials explained that they are working to modernize the Mont-Royal tunnel, a century-old infrastructure that runs through the mountain.

As a result, technical tests have yet to begin, which means that phase two of the network, designed to link the North Shore, Laval and the West Island to downtown Montreal will not take place by the end of the year as they had announced.

In its update, the REM did not specify a new timetable, saying the start date for phase two is “to be determined.”

According to Radio-Canada, the first media outlet to report the news on Wednesday, service is not scheduled to begin until the early 2025.

Before they can begin testing in the tunnel, the REM must install systems such as bollards, sensors, and 600 km of electrical cables.

The REM insists that workers are on the ground “day and night, seven days a week,” to maintain the pace of work in the tunnel.

Technical tests will begin “in the next few weeks” between Deux-Montagnes and Sainte-Dorothée stations and will gradually be extended to the entire network over the summer.

The launch of the REM has been marked by several delays.

Only one branch is currently in service, linking downtown Montreal to Brossard on the South Shore, which welcomed its first passengers last summer.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews