REM de l'Est will occur by 2026 election, transport minister pledges

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The long-awaited mild rail system that’s anticipated to serve Montreal’s east finish will occur earlier than the following provincial election in 2026, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault pledged.

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Quebec and Montreal introduced final spring they have been taking on administration of the mission — then often called the REM de l’Est — after CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure unit of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, backed out. CDPQ Infra’s proposed $10-billion, 32-kilometre community had angered citizen teams and heritage organizations alike. Many of the hostility arose as a result of the road’s elevated part would have scarred giant swaths of east-end Montreal, to not point out components of the downtown core.

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Montreal’s regional transportation authority, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, is heading a committee tasked with analyzing doable routes for the light-rail community. It can current a last report on the mission in June. Different members of the committee embrace the provincial transport ministry, town of Montreal and the Société de transport de Montréal.

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“It’s sure that the mission goes to occur. It’s certain, certain, certain,” Guilbault stated Monday at a convention hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. “That is a part of the ‘issues I need to do’” earlier than the following normal election, she stated.

“We completely want a structuring transportation mission within the east finish. Mobility is poor. There’s no fascinating various to the automotive.”

Requested to make clear her feedback throughout a subsequent media scrum, Guilbault stated: “In 2026, we are going to know what mission now we have. I don’t need to decide to issues like shovels within the floor. We’re going to let the committee end its work, and usually in June, we could have a last report. I can come again to you then. The selection of mode and the route ought to be within the last report.”

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The June doc will embrace particulars of potential extensions to Rivière-des-Prairies, Laval and Lanaudière, in addition to ridership and value estimates, Guilbault, the province’s vice premier, added.

One factor is for certain: the light-rail community gained’t be known as the REM de l’Est, as a result of the Réseau Specific Métropolitain identify belongs to the Caisse de dépôt, ARTM normal supervisor Benoît Gendron stated.

“For this reason we’re referring to it because the ‘Projet structurant de l’Est,’ or PSE,” Gendron stated Monday.

Guilbault spoke lower than every week after her authorities broke an election promise to construct a automotive tunnel between Quebec Metropolis and Lévis to ease congestion on bridges. She declined to debate the matter with reporters Monday, saying she would solely talk about subjects coated by the Chamber of Commerce occasion.

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