Weather having wicked way with REM
The REM was down Thursday morning between Deux‑Montagnes and McGill. As I type close to 9, it’s still down between Bois‑Franc and TMR.
There are also road troubles since after all, nobody is ever ready for snow in January.
Ian 10:18 on 2026-01-15 Permalink
I actually saw an STM bus fishtail a whole lane on Cote de Liesse this morning at about 7. Fortunately there was nobody else in that lane.
According to CBC this morning the issue with the REM was freezing rain accumulation on the overhead lines, which makes sense, but also seems like a kind of obvious issue especially since the amount of freezing rain was pretty minimal.
PatrickC 12:11 on 2026-01-15 Permalink
What happens in places like Switzerland when there is freezing rain on the wires? Do their trains shut down?
Ian 13:00 on 2026-01-15 Permalink
Truly a mystery for the ages.
mare 16:18 on 2026-01-15 Permalink
Yes. I don’t know about Switzerland but it happens In the Netherlands too. On top of that, trains often shut down in the fall because of leaves on the track, since that’s the other pole of the electric circuit. As do trams.
But electric *heavy* rail uses a different type of catenary so might be less susceptible to freezing rain than light rail.
Nicholas 16:30 on 2026-01-15 Permalink
The Netherlands, plus Belgium and the north of France, got a few inches of snow last week and it caused havoc to their heavy rail, electric train systems. To be fair, they’re not used to this much snow the was the Swiss or Swedes or Finns or Russians or Japanese are, who seem to manage fine, but I don’t know the details. Chicago famously sets it’s track switches on fire when it gets cold so they don’t freeze, but there are other solutions.
I think it’s completely appropriate not to build a system that will run perfectly during rare weather events, whether that’s snow in Florida or hurricanes in Montreal. But Ottawa and Montreal should rightly be ridiculed for designing trains that can’t handle regular winter, such that it needs to shut down regularly.
I know someone who was a conductor for CP and he said during the 1998 ice storm the West Island commuter rail line, which is not electric, ran almost without issue. The only problem was that the tracks east of Dorval were controlled by electric signals, so with the power out they had to drive slowly, like when traffic lights go out; the tracks west of Dorval were assigned by handing a sheet of paper to the driver that gave them protected use of the track, so it worked fine without electricity. I don’t know how well the Two Mountains line, which was electric, worked.