Today, with the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. François Legault, Premier of Québec and Ms. Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montréal in attendance, CDPQ and its subsidiary, CDPQ Infra, inaugurated the first branch of the Réseau express métropolitain ( REM ), connecting Brossard to Gare Centrale.
Dignitaries and members of the public took part in the first official trip on the 16.6-km route connecting downtown Montréal to Brossard in 18 minutes.
This major step marks the start of a new network that is efficient, reliable and will facilitate the daily travel of over 30,000 people as they go to work, school, leisure activities, appointments or to visit friends and family.
Once completed, the fully automated and electric REM will reduce GHG emissions by 100,000 tonnes per year. In addition, with an overall network of 67 kilometres, it will be the longest automated metro in the world.
The public is invited to experience the new light metro for free over the weekend of July 29–30. Activities will also be scheduled on Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie during the weekend to highlight this historic milestone. Regular service on the South Shore Branch will begin Monday, July 31.
Users can learn more details about the new service starting today by visiting the Travel section of the website.
Delivering better public transit for people in Montréal
Investing in public transit is about investing in Canadians. With projects that get people where they need to go, we help commuters save time and money, we create good middle-class jobs, and we keep our air clean for generations to come.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was joined today by the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, the Mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Charles Emond, in Montréal, Quebec, for the launch of phase 1 of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), a major public transit project linking several suburbs with downtown Montréal. With the launch of phase 1 today, five stations will now provide public transit services from the South Shore’s Brossard Station to downtown Montréal’s Central Station, crossing the St. Lawrence River via the iconic Samuel De Champlain Bridge.
The REM is the largest public transit project undertaken in Quebec in the last 50 years and the result of extensive partnership, including a record investment from the federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Once fully completed, the REM will double the length of the existing metro system, link the communities of the West Island (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue) and the North Shore (Laval and Deux-Montagnes) to downtown Montréal, and create a fast link to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport. The REM will make it possible to travel from downtown Montréal to one of Canada’s largest air travel hubs in only 25 minutes, regardless of traffic.
Once fully operational, the REM – a fully electric metro – will help cut emissions by 100,000 tonnes per year, which is equivalent to removing 30,000 cars from our roads each day. The REM is also expected to add significant economic benefits to the Greater Montréal Area, including 34,000 jobs during construction, 1,000 permanent jobs, and over $2 billion in wages paid in Quebec. It is expected to accommodate up to 170,000 users per day.
Projects like this one are a significant part of our plan to fight climate change, create good jobs, and make our communities even better places to call home. Today’s announcement means Montrealers will have a faster commute, less time in traffic, cleaner air, and more money back in their pockets.
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