Are plans for a REM station in Montreal's Griffintown still on track?
CBC
The opening of the Deux-Montagnes branch of Montreal's REM light-rail system this week has been described by some as a game changer, cutting travel times for many commuters.
The new line departs from Deux-Montagnes, crosses Laval and the West Island before passing through the Mount Royal tunnel to reach downtown.
It also connects to Montreal's Metro system at Édouard-Montpetit, McGill and Bonaventure stations, and continues on to the South Shore branch of the REM, which opened in the summer of 2023.
A look at a map of the network shows 20 stations dotting the rail line connecting Montreal's North and South shores — and all are open save for one: Griffintown—Bernard-Landry, located between Ottawa and William streets.
It has left many wondering: What happened to the station first slated to open in 2024 — and will it ever become a reality?
According to Francis Labbé, a spokesperson for CDPQ Infra — a subsidiary of Quebec's pension fund manager responsible for the development of the REM — the construction of the station is a complex undertaking.
It's linked — at least for now — to a proposed station as part of former mayor Valérie Plante's plan to redevelop the nearby Bridge-Bonaventure area that straddles the Sud-Ouest and Ville-Marie boroughs.
Labbé said following a request by the City of Montreal for the additional Bridge-Bonaventure REM station, an analysis of the project was carried out.
While the construction of both stations is "technically feasible," Labbé said the study emphasized the need to build both stations at the same time rather than consecutively "to minimize the impact on users and reduce costs."
Still, he says managing construction around an active and busy transit line in dense urban areas will prove challenging.
Pierre Barrieau, a transportation lecturer at Université de Montréal, said the work could lead to weeks or even months of closures and service disruptions.
"That would mean the line would go from Brossard to Nuns' Island then we would have to bus people from Nuns' Island all the way to downtown or reopen the old express buses parallel to that," he said. "People on the North wouldn't be able to go on the South Shore anymore."
For some South Shore commuters, the opening of the Griffintown—Bernard-Landry station can't come soon enough.
Axel Fournier, a spokesperson for the Association pour le Transport Collectif de la Rive-Sud, an advocacy group made up of transit users, says the opening of the REM has meant the loss of a "strategic" bus stop that was close to Old Montreal.
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