Beginning this Sunday, Montreal’s new light-rail line will undergo dilutions in service to facilitate modifications aimed at reducing noise pollution in residential areas. The Réseau express métropolitain’s (REM) service between Gare centrale and Panama stations will now cease operations after 10 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday for a total of six weeks.
The REM regularly operates until 1 a.m. between the bustling Gare centrale in Montreal and the prominent Brossard station housed on the South Shore. A silver lining to the impending disruption, however, is that service will continue as scheduled on Friday and Saturday evenings. Further mitigating the inconvenience, shuttle buses are to stand ready to ferry passengers between the two stations during this temporary suspension of rail services.
The short notice of such a significant service alteration has drawn the ire of public transit users, specifically from the defenders at Trajectoire Québec. Their General Manager, Sarah V. Doyon, berates the abrupt notice that puts passengers off their stride, having to alter their travel plans with barely any time to utilise.
According to Doyon, the decision to impose a shuttle-bus connection between Panama and Brossard stations seems to exacerbate the inconvenience, undermining the very purpose of public transit – to provide reliable and quality service to its users. She insists that CDPQ Infra, REM’s primary contractor, should have pursued another course – to conduct the work during the pre-determined shutdown period specifically meant for network maintenance, thus ensuring a minimal impact on users.
The REM officially began services on July 31 operating between Montreal and Brossard and it wasn’t long before it attracted the vexation of numerous residents, who took issue with the noise level produced by passing trains. The current service disruption is a step towards addressing these concerns while ensuring smoother and quieter commute in the future.
