Saint Laurent mayor makes the case for REM extension
15 May 2019Canada – Alan DeSousa, mayor of Montreal borough Saint-Laurent, is urging officials to approve a 700m extension to the Montréal Réseau express métropolitain (REM) plan, which would connect Dorval station to the airport.
“There was very little planning done to connect the little pieces,” he said on CTV News Montreal over the weekend.
Tunnelling is expected to start this year on the project, which will become one of the largest, fully automated LRT systems in the world.
According to DeSousa, “the tunnelling equipment is going to be in the ground this summer. They’re going to be tunnelling under the tracks to get to the Dorval airport and all they’ve got to do is really just keep going for another 700m.
“If they do that the tunnel will be dug out and then they will be able to work out all the rest of the details.”
The Caisse De Dépôt et placement du Québec Infra (CDPQ Infra) has undertaken the construction and operation of the REM. In terms of underground construction, the REM involves several underground infrastructures as well as a new tunnel under runways reaching the new station at Pierre-Elliott Trudeau International Airport (formerly named Dorval) and two new underground stations implemented in the existing Mont-royal Tunnel, which will undergo repair.
