Réseau Express Metropolitain (REM) Montreal, QC, Canada

REM station construction begins at Montreal airport: ProgessiveRailroading.com

Aeroports de Montreal (ADM) last week held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on the Reseau Express Metropolitain (REM) metro station at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

The station construction is expected to be completed by 2023, ADM officials said in a press release.

Upon completion, the stop will be one of 26 stations to be built on the nearly 42-mile REM light-rail network that will eventually connect the airport to downtown Montreal.
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Will be interesting to see what it will take to extend the plan a half mile to the VIA/Exo station at Dorval.

Seven hundred metres.

That’s what separates the planned Réseau express métropolitain light-rail train station at Trudeau Airport from tracks used by Vaudreuil-Hudson commuter trains and Via Rail inter-city trains in Dorval.

And, three years after the $6.3-billion REM project was announced, there’s still no plan in place to link the two.

“Logic suggests, common sense suggests, good planning suggests that they should be linked,” said Alan DeSousa, an opposition city councillor and mayor of St-Laurent borough.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local- ... tation-gap

I'm pretty sure that they should have just built a people mover from Dorval to the Airport and called it a day, rather than tunnelling all the way from the far side of the airport to connect it to REM

It's easy to suggest a 0.7km extension is "obvious" when you aren't the one footing the bill to build it.

Haven't looked into the REM docs, but a quick search revealed in 2012 Metrolinx signed a contract for the Eglinton LRT tunneling that worked out to just over $50 million / km, so maybe a slightly shorter and 7 years later call it $70 million? Plus the cost of the station, which might be another $100 million?

Add in perhaps lost revenue as people don't ride the REM, and one can see why they may not be so enthusiastic about it.

As for a people mover, they aren't exactly cheap either. Wikipedia, with a link to an archived article, indicates the 1.5km people mover at Toronto Pearson cost $150million in the early 2000's. So call it a tie, and you may as well go with REM.

I intensely dislike people movers. Usually it involves a change of seats, much higher construction costs, new fare structure... Makes no sense from any standpoint, but airport operators love to have people movers because it's "cool" or was in 1990.

I just used JFK air train. Woof. It was like "how do we make the experience less seamless at all points for any possible riders?" and they did it. If you've ever waited in line for a fare from the vending machines behind 100 people that don't know how/speak english, you'd think the same thing. God forbid they just extend the E train into JFK and keep the same rolling stock and track structure that they already have thousands of.

At a place like JFK I understand. You have to realize that with a place like JFK where you have (currently) 6 terminals spread across a sprawling complex, you're never going to serve everyone with a one seat ride. At some point, someone is going to have to transfer to some sort of people mover. You could build a central station, one at a specific terminal, whatever, but people are still going to have to make some connection. In a situation like that, I see no problem with a people mover like the Airtrain since it's basically just moving the necessary transfer from a facility on the airport to a facility off the airport. Yes, the fare control area at Jamaica needs to be greatly expanded because it is a massive shitshow, but other than that, the Airtrain works.

In the case of Montreal, though, they absolutely should be just running the train right into the airport. One terminal makes it very easy, and even at airports with two (Stockholm) it would be very doable.

This is the outfit killing off AMT!,a totally misguided effort.

Railway_News.com: The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light rail metro service has begun its final round of testing prior to the commissioning of the South Shore line in Montreal, Canada.

The South Shore antenna spans 17 kilometres between Gare Centrale and Brossard stations and will operate as a fully automated metro.

The final phase of testing before the system’s commissioning consists of simulating future service without passengers. This includes testing the ability of crews to carry out routine operations in different contexts.

For example, the testing will evaluate the effectiveness of ‘waking up’ the cars in the storage centre, as well as the automated departure and return of the cars to and from the REM tracks.
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First segment between Gare Centrale and Brossard opens July 31.

Railway Age

CDPQ Infra Provides Update on Montreal’s REM

Nearly six weeks after Réseau express métropolitain’s (REM) first segment was inaugurated in Montreal, CDPQ Infra on Sept. 13 provided an update on the automated rail network it is developing—from operations so far to construction of future segments to the project’s new, higher price tag.

The first segment, between Brossard on Montreal’s South Shore and Montreal’s Central Station, spans 17 kilometers (10.6 miles) and includes five stations equipped with a system of platform screen doors.

Upon completion, REM will be 67 kilometers long (41.6 miles) with 26 stations, linking downtown Montreal to the South Shore, the North Shore, the West Island and Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. It will provide rapid service with trains arriving every 3 minutes 45 seconds during peak hours and operate 20 hours per day.
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Just got back from a trip to Montreal and took a spin on REM on a Sunday midday. I figured the initial curiosity-based ridership would have gotten it out of their system by now, and that appears to be the case. It was not enormously busy, but we were far from the only people on the train. I did note that there was a very healthy population of vehicles in the park and ride lot at Brossard. Given that Montreal seems to be in a state of perpetual detours and road closures, and traffic is quite heavy across the Champlain Bridge at nearly all times, I'm sure this new service is a very welcome development for commuters. The line gives a good view of some freight yards and the storage yards for both VIA and exo, too.

As far as killing off AMT (now it's exo), I'd take the frequency of REM over exo any day - literally. Especially weekends, where there is extremely limited exo service, if at all.