No REM track on new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge
There won’t be any REM tracks on the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge.
Update: That’s what Radio-Canada said earlier, but this piece in Metro claims the REM has not been definitively ruled out. CTV’s brief item doesn’t mention the REM at all.
mare 15:34 on 2019-03-06 Permalink
Of course not, all undeveloped land in Vaudreuil-Dorion is already sold to other developers, no point for SDPQ Infra to ever extend the track a few kilometres and making a station in an already built up, populated area.
Much better to build stations in the middle of nowhere, so you can make money building offices, malls and more McMansions.
Besides Vaudreuil votes Liberal, so why would the CAQ spend extra money there. BTW! I thought all bridges were federal, so why does the Quebec minister of transport presents this project?
(I’m against sprawl, but that last part of the REM doesn’t go anywhere. Ending it in a big community makes much more sense than ending it far away of St-Anne-de-Bellevue.)
Ian 15:40 on 2019-03-06 Permalink
There’s a big Broccolini housing development going up near where the Sainte Anne REM will be.
I suspect you’re right about all the reasons the train won’t go further west though.
Faiz Imam 16:48 on 2019-03-06 Permalink
Good news.
I’m not a fan of the St-Anne station either (though I think it’s somewhat justified due to its proximity to Abott and Mcdonald) but it’s good to draw a line.
And the fact is that Vaudreuil and surrounding areas have a huge opportunity to improve their existing but anemic bus network to have solid connections to St-Anne. There is very little that an extension can do that a diversified bus network cannot. Strong bus links via the existing gare vaudreuil could be hugely effective to promote development in existing areas without pushing farther into farmland. I’m very happy to read the focus on proper segregated reserved bus lanes on the new bridge.
Also, I found it very revealing that the person pushing for REM to vaudreuil went out of her way to critisize the pedestrian/bike lane with “cette « piste polyvalente » n’a pas sa place sur le futur pont de l’Île-aux-Tourtes. « Il faut s’entendre qu’en hiver, un vélo, ça ne va pas très, très bien”
That’s some grade A nonsense from a person that most surely wants to drive her car from home to a free parking spot by the train station.
Alex L 12:20 on 2019-03-07 Permalink
What I don’t understand with all this talk about the REM is why they don’t buy the tracks or do anything to upgrade the Vaudreuil-Hudson line. It’s there already, has stations in central locations that wouldn’t encourage sprawl, it could connect the airport and be electrified. The schedule has been essentially the same since as long as I can remember (Wikipedia article actually says it hasn’t changed much since the 1950’s).
Kevin 10:01 on 2019-03-08 Permalink
Alex L
Three passenger train lines use the tracks between downtown and Montreal West.
Other portions of the corridor are used by cargo trains and Via.
Buying the line would cost more than constructing the REM
Kate 10:34 on 2019-03-08 Permalink
Alex L, you seem to think the REM is about transportation. It isn’t. It’s about profit, and possibly about creating jobs. Saving money is not the point.
Ian 17:54 on 2019-03-08 Permalink
Well for all of you who oppose the train going to Vaudreuil because you disapprove of sprawl, You’re basically guaranteeing everyone will drive – because bus service, while crap west of Dorval, takes a distinct turn for the worse once you get off-island, and simply saying “well they need to improve transit then” is kind of silly when that’s the whole reason they want the REM to come to them…. nad people already live there. This is not some hypothetical suburban community that might spring up becasue a train station is built, it’s service to communities that have existed for hundreds of years. What makes the REM running off-island to the north somehow better than to the west? Or do you guys just not approve of the smaller communities just west of Montreal? Somebody from Dorion break your heart? …Because your arguments just don’t make any sense.