REM wants $60M for tunnel explosion
CDPQ Infra is trying to claim $60 million in insurance money because of REM construction delays caused by an explosion in 2020 in the Mount Royal tunnel. A stash of hundred‑year‑old explosives went off unexpectedly in July that year.
Can the presence of this old dynamite really be called an unexpected disaster? Had the REM engineers carried out a more thorough inspection before beginning work, wouldn’t they have found it?
Luckily I am not the judge on this case or I’d laugh them out of court.
anton 16:27 on 2023-09-05 Permalink
Well, the all of the explosives were _supposed_ to go off a hundred years ago, so, uh, not sure where you should expect there to be a bunch more lying around after all this time.
Kate 16:56 on 2023-09-05 Permalink
It all sounds a bit Wile E. Coyote.
Anton, they knew the tunnel was not up to modern spec, I remember reading about this concern before they started. They must have sent experts in to check it out before they started working in it. After a hundred years anything could have been in there – and anything was. At least there weren’t any bodies.
Anton 02:11 on 2023-09-06 Permalink
Well when I hear „not up to spec“, I think about egress routes, emergency exits, egress signage, lighting, emergency lighting, a second parallel tunnel that could be used for egress, tunnel profile (which is not a problem for the mont royal tunnel, the profile is huge), ventilation, emergency ventilation, access for emergency vehicles, other emergency measures (like sprinkler systems).
From what I’ve read, the tunnel construction itself at the time was pretty solid, pretty clever, and overall well executed. The disaster I would worry about most now is probably a cave in (given that the tunnel is mostly blasted into the rock), then again I‘d hope there‘s continuous inspections for that (if thats even possible).