Montreal's REM light-rail project delayed again, with no end in sight

The saga continues: the completion of Montreal's Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has been postponed once again.

Project managers are blaming "highly complex" work in the Mont-Royal tunnel for the delay, saying the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l'Orme branches will not open by the end of the year as planned.

Those branches, which would connect Montreal's North Shore and West Island to downtown, were originally expected in 2023 before being pushed back to 2024. Radio-Canada sources say the commissioning of those branches is now not planned before summer 2025.

In an update published Wednesday, project managers said crews are still working to modernize the tunnel built in 1912 that runs through the mountain. The discovery of century-old explosives caused further delays at the heart of the future electric train network.

Since coming under fire for missing deadlines and breaking promises, the REM's developer CDPQ Infra has not announced a new timetable for the $8-billion project.

"Obviously, we have a plan. But giving a date today does nothing," REM project manager Julien Hurel said in an interview with Radio-Canada. "Our commitment is to provide a safe and reliable rail system as quickly as possible."

Technical tests are set to take place in the next few weeks between the Deux-Montagnes and Sainte-Dorothée stations and will gradually be extended to the entire network over the summer.

But before that, workers still need to install bollards, sensors and 600 kilometres of electrical cables.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said in a statement that this project will have a significant impact on mobility for decades to come, and it's imperative to take the time to do things right.

"Whether they are public or private, every infrastructure project comes with its challenges, and we trust that CDPQ has all the expertise to address them and successfully carry out this major project for the future of mobility," said Plante.

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault said she would have preferred the REM project stay on schedule. But if CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure arm of Quebec's public pension fund manager, needs more time to test the system and ensure safety, postponing it is the "right thing to do."

The REM is currently in service from the downtown Central Station to Brossard, Que. Twenty-one of the 26 stations planned for the network have yet to open.

Two of those stations, Montreal-Trudeau Airport and Griffintown-Bernard-Landry, are scheduled to be completed in 2027.

While acknowledging the need for public transit, opposition parties slammed the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government for allowing the project to reach a state of limbo.