REM is down
The entire REM network is down as I type, at 9 on Tuesday morning. The REM site just has the laconic message Ensemble du réseau – Interruption de service. More on this in La Presse.
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Nicholas 14:38 on 2026-01-20 Permalink
Has someone, in the media or a researcher, looked at the data of how many days or hours have shutdowns and compared them to the metro and other systems? Maybe it’s not that much, but we keep hearing about it so it feels like a lot.
bob 14:47 on 2026-01-20 Permalink
Let’s just be thankful these engineering giants don’t make airplane engines or respirators.
dhomas 18:32 on 2026-01-20 Permalink
I mean, the metro going down with a system designed in the 60’s and some cars made from 1974 to 1980 (refurbished mid-2000s) is almost understandable. Something engineered this century should have been designed a little better.
I know an engineer who worked on some parts of the REM. He brought up some concerns with the designs, but the powers that be did not want to spend more to adapt it to our climate. Some of the stations seemed copy/pasted from the Vancouver SkyTrain.
Joey 09:39 on 2026-01-21 Permalink
I think if we’re comparing to the Metro or other transit systems, it’s essential to limit ourselves to the first year or two of operation – if newspapers still had beat journalists there would be someone on staff who would either have a memory of the Metro’s first year or two (or a memory of having chatted up some long gone reporter who was around), or at least the instinct to dig in the archives.
DeWolf 23:12 on 2026-01-21 Permalink
@Joey La Presse had an article describing technical issues right after the metro’s launch:
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2023-08-02/inauguration-du-rem/la-panne-du-premier-lundi-comme-le-metro-en-1966.php
Interestingly, from reading other sources, it seems like the metro being untouched during the 1971 “storm of the century” really helped bolster public opinion about it.