Fire at future REM station investigated
A fire noticed early Tuesday at the future Canora REM station is being investigated. CTV says it’s apparently arson. Well, that’s a new one for the incidents map.
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Kate
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Forgetful 16:13 on 2023-08-08 Permalink
Some pundits/columnist are now saying it could be eco-terrorists, anti-gentrification activists or anti-transit NIMBYS… seems far-fetched, I’m thinking it’s just willful arson, but honestly the way this project has been talked in the press and social media, maybe some people could have been radicalized to that extent.
Kate 16:43 on 2023-08-08 Permalink
Eco-terrorists should support the REM, since it’s all electric powered. There have been solid arguments all along against how the REM was implanted – the profit‑based premise, the monopoly including the seizure of the Mount Royal tunnel – there have been aspects to argue with, but they weren’t primarily environmental ones.
I can just see it – “Nice light rail system you’ve got here – pity if something happened to it…”
Taylor 18:27 on 2023-08-08 Permalink
Any links to those pundits placing the blame on eco-terrorists, anti-gentrification activists or anti-transit NIMBYS?
Ian 19:40 on 2023-08-08 Permalink
I suppose eco-terrorsits could be opposed to the REM as it jogs north of the 40 in the west, promoting new development and urban sprawl…I’m just speculating here, but maybe the line to the airport is an issue as it promotes air travel?
It could also just be kids screwing around.
Anton 02:10 on 2023-08-09 Permalink
They could also be protesting the privatization of public transit infrastructure and how monopolizing the Mount Royal tunnel and gare Centrale means no future transit project can use them, capping the utilization of these at rather medium ridership levels and making potential future projects more expensive / very difficult and thus unsuccessful (cf Eastern REM, Via TGF, more transit-like commuter rail).
…Nah, too complicated.
Joey 10:00 on 2023-08-09 Permalink
@Anton could the tunnel be used for other routes/lines if the Caisse were involved? Or are there technical limitations that have been implemented that can’t be undone?
Uatu 10:42 on 2023-08-09 Permalink
I’m thinking it’s probably bored teenagers who were high. I knew some kids who grew up in TMR and you wouldn’t believe the stuff they did.
Anton 10:54 on 2023-08-09 Permalink
Well, the Caisse owns the infra, so that’s a big hurdle.
Technically I’d say sharing is relative difficult at this point.
The signaling and electrification wasn’t chosen to be very compatible with heavy rail. This could probably be solved, but it’s an annoying choice by the rem folks.
The part of gare Centrale that could connect into the tunnel would have to be reconfigured (there used to be 6? tracks that connect into the tunnel, 2 are used now, the rest are used for REM ops?). The REM could’ve been set up to use the middle tracks and leave 2 tracks free on each side for heavy rail, but they didn’t.
The width of the REM trains is only 2.95m, vs 3.05m for RTM bilevels, 3.2m for the new VIA rail cars, so those cars won’t be able to fit past Edouard Montpetits platforms. One could reconfigure the station and perhaps use gauntlet tracks, but that’s a hack. The REM could’ve been specced with 3.2m cars, but it wasn’t.
The area south of gare Centrale would need to be set up to have separate heavy rail and rem operations. The rem wasn’t set up for that really well – in particular, the ramp starting across the canal doesn’t leave space for an extra track between the the heritage CN building and the rem ramp/bridge. That would be an expensive fix. They could’ve designed that area with sharing in mind, but they didn’t.
The northern insertion of heavy rail would probably make most sense around canora (as planned way back by the AMT, when they wanted to bring the st Jerome line into the gare centrale). That connection would need to be a tunnel connecting to another, which wouldn’t be easy to do without heavy shut downs of the REM. If they had prepared said connection along with the REM construction, it could’ve been done at the same time with very little impact, now the construction impact would be so large that it won’t be done.
If sharing had been part of the planning from the beginning, the marginal cost and effort would’ve been relatively small, maybe .5-1B$. Now it’s very difficult, would involve a lot of impact on the REM. The cost of a new tunnel and downtown station would probably be 5-10B$, if recent cost estimates for other projects are anything to go by.
One VIA guy I know used to say about sharing and cdpqinfra: “if you make it impossible, it will be very difficult”.
Anton 11:19 on 2023-08-09 Permalink
@ Uatu
Perhaps the easiest way to get more lines into the tunnel is to convert the commuter lines to REM technology. Which perhaps explains the approach cdpqinfra took with the REM.
Kelila 08:17 on 2024-08-24 Permalink
I am hoping for gentrification of that area because honestly I live nearby but on the worst street in Cote Des Neiges. It would be nice to spruce up the area. I am guessing rents might go up since the rem station is closer to that area than the nearest metro station. I would rather see high rents if that means people running the trap house apartments gets pushed out. Believe me I never seen a neighborhood this bad, I used to be against gentrification but living in and around the slum of the city makes me take account of what is more important, money or safety.