REM station reopens after elevator failure
Édouard-Montpetit REM station was closed for awhile Monday morning when the elevators stopped working.
The station is located 22 floors below street level. The item reads “Without them, many users with reduced mobility would be unable to access the station” although I’d venture to guess that many physically mobile people would prefer to avoid a climb of 22 storeys too.
Tim 11:29 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
I disagree with this policy. Users should be given the choice to descend or ascend the 22 floors instead of closing the station to everyone.
Nicholas 11:36 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
I agree with Tim. If you’re going to class at UdeM you might prefer to climb stairs than walk all the way from Canora. The Exo trains are inaccessible to many users with reduced mobility; should we shut them down permanently until that’s fixed? Make announcements on the train and provide a shuttle for people who need it.
CE 15:08 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
I would assume that those 22 flights of stairs are designated as being for emergency only. If you open them up for regular use, what happens if someone gets injured six storeys up? Emergency workers would have to descend 16 storeys then come back up with the person. I doubt they want to cause such a situation to happen unless absolutely necessary (an emergency evacuation).
Kate 18:14 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
The stairs are definitely marked as emergency only. I passed through the station last week and noticed that. But I don’t know whether anyone would stop you if you opened the door and started on up.
GC 19:04 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
If they are designated for only emergencies, I suppose it’s possible that just opening the doors would set off an alarm? And then you might be subject to a fine, if they caught you. I assume they would catch *me*, at least, since it would take me a bit of time to do those 22 flights.
Major Annoyance 20:16 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
@CE: I happened to transfer from the REM to the Blue Line at Edouard-Montpetit the other day. I took the right-most elevator of the bank of five up (the elevator that was initially set aside for the fire crews when the station first opened). Unlike the other four elevators that one has buttons to access 11 intermediate floors so rescue personnel have direct access to any trouble in the stairwells. The designers appear to have thought through a lot of the possible emergency scenarios.
CE 21:11 on 2026-06-01 Permalink
Interesting. Good thinking on their part.
Nicholas 08:34 on 2026-06-02 Permalink
The story says two elevators malfunctioned. So could they not handle it with three of five? It reopened at 7:22 am. Least they could do is leave it open until crowding got too bad. Have they fixed the problem where you can’t call one elevator until the first one has left? If only three are working set them to run back and forth without rest.
MarcG 09:16 on 2026-06-02 Permalink
If there’s an emergency that causes the elevators to not function or be considered safe, how does the special fire elevator continue being an option? Is it on a generator?
Joey 09:58 on 2026-06-02 Permalink
@MarcG maybe that elevator is more for accessing intermediate floors for maintenance rather than an emergency (and, as we see here, it’s entirely possible for some but not all of the elevators to cease functioning).