Montréal Transit Developments

[nfitz]

The... north ig, segment of rem east is largely underground.

Gosh ... I missed that completely. That's a long distance. I wonder how that corridor compares to just going up Pie-IX like the Line 7 proposal - I'd have thought that would have been an elevation candidate.

I'm confused why such a long distance is okay underground, but a few blocks downtown near the terminus is completely prohibitive.

What's wrong with elevated railroads? They can be done well (I realize they often aren't), and they're much cheaper than building underground, especially on a ROW like Rene Levesque - when I visit Montreal, I'm always surprised at how wide Rene Levesque is.

Lots of issues. One is weather ... I'm sure you've stood in stations like St. Clair that are underground, and frozen to death waiting for a train in the winter, with wind blowing in from the portal, that isn't even that close. Another is the extra distance in transferring - the Orange line is already quite deep at this location, and they've added at least 2 more stories. Then there's the shading issue. The aesthetics.

Perhaps some will like it. I don't feel it's a great idea. I don't think that Chicago or the Bronx gain from this type of transit.

 

[p_xavier]

Sorry, you mean the depot is completed now? Can't really tell from the pictures.

Also, on a side note, I think the Bellechasse depot is a much better use of land than TTC's new McNicoll bus depot, which just looks like a giant warehouse surrounded by an even bigger parking lot and wide boulevards. Bellechasse feels much more human scale and integrated into the neighbourhood.

No, excavation is complete. Structure is now going up.

 

[NoahB]

I'm confused why such a long distance is okay underground, but a few blocks downtown near the terminus is completely prohibitive.

Downtown's underground has: 2 Metro lines, the RESO, countless towers with deep underground levels, utilities dating centuries, etc
Nouveau-Rosemont/Nouveau-Rosemont: 1 Metro line, some medium-sized apartment buildings, a sea of small duplexes and single-family homes with shallow basements, and relatively newer utilities*, parks and parking lot galore, etc

*I don't know much about the underground utilities but you can guarantee that is less complex and less deep than in downtown Montreal.

 

[asher__jo]

What's wrong with elevated railroads? They can be done well (I realize they often aren't), and they're much cheaper than building underground, especially on a ROW like Rene Levesque - when I visit Montreal, I'm always surprised at how wide Rene Levesque is.

Visit Winnipeg sometime. Portage Ave is much wider.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Visit Winnipeg sometime. Portage Ave is much wider.

That time they closed Portage and Main to pedestrians​

From link.

Almost 40 years later, Winnipeggers voted on whether to reverse the decision

Portage and Main in Winnipeg may be the most famous intersection in Canada.

Despite being closed to foot traffic, the historic intersection is a natural place for Winnipeggers to gravitate when there's something to celebrate — like the return of a National Hockey League team, in 2011, or the 150th anniversary of Confederation, in 2017.

The question: take down the barricades that have blocked pedestrians from crossing the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street for almost 40 years? Or leave them up and continue to make people go underground to get across?

Ultimately, they decided to keep the intersection unchanged. ...

 

[henrydm]

Personally, I've never observed the Canada Line at every 2-minute frequencies. I feel I've waited far long than that for a train at the airport.

Hang on - REM East is 30% underground? Somehow I'd missed that. Where?

its underground in the east connection marie victorin with the main branch

 

[SFO-YYZ]

What's wrong with elevated railroads? They can be done well (I realize they often aren't), and they're much cheaper than building underground, especially on a ROW like Rene Levesque - when I visit Montreal, I'm always surprised at how wide Rene Levesque is.

FYI, Niftz is never happy with whatever MTL does. Kind of annoying at first, but his pessimism grows on you after a while, thanks to its reliable consistency. You get used to it.

 

[asher__jo]

That time they closed Portage and Main to pedestrians​

From link.

Almost 40 years later, Winnipeggers voted on whether to reverse the decision

The saddest decision in urban planning in Canada

 

[nfitz]

FYI, Niftz is never happy with whatever MTL does. Kind of annoying at first, but his pessimism grows on you after a while, thanks to its reliable consistency.

I'm unsure why some feel that we can't in a Toronto forum critique what other cities do, in the same manner we do for proposed projects here. Where's the defence of Portage and Main?

From what I read in the Quebec media, my suggestion that they shouldn't be elevating transit downtown along roads like Dorchester and Levesque is hardly unique.

 

[superelevation]

Based on what's reported so far, this new Montreal light rail line to the northeast is for a lot shorter trains than you see for typical Canadian examples of light rail in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, or Line 5 Eglinton in Toronto. While I agree it's not a great term for the central portion of the REM - this is not that. And what can you do if that's how the Caisse are branding it on their own website!

Just because thats what it's branded as doesn't mean thats what it should be called. Branding is for the general public, not folks on UrbanToronto.

Personally, I've never observed the Canada Line at every 2-minute frequencies. I feel I've waited far long than that for a train at the airport.

Hang on - REM East is 30% underground? Somehow I'd missed that. Where?

The Canada Line like the REM should be capable of 90 second frequencies.

The connection to Trudeau airport is in the west, as it the tunnel to TMR. The discussion was about the proposed not-under-construction REM line to the east, that doesn't connect to the line currently being built. Which is the 30% of that that is underground?

Because the official website uses the term Light Rail - see https://rem.info/en

So it's not only the English media!

Given both "light" and "rail" are not French words, I can imagine there's a very good reason that non-English media are not using either the words "light" or "rail"!

Personally, I'm surprised the Caisse has officially branded this as "Light Rail" - but I'm also surprised that the Caisse thinks its acceptable to build an elevated railway downtown in this day and age!

Again, I am not sure why we can't make our own judgement call instead of marketers or translators. Light rail in North America by and large looks like this:

Calling something which is not North American light rail "light rail" serves to confuse.

 

[Coolstar]

Transports collectifs | Les catacombes, un autre projet de 3,9 milliards

À peine arrivée à la station McGill, l’équipe de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) nous montre l’eau qui coule en abondance du plafond, près de la sortie des Promenades de la cathédrale.

www.lapresse.ca

 

[aquateam]

Transports collectifs | Les catacombes, un autre projet de 3,9 milliards

À peine arrivée à la station McGill, l’équipe de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) nous montre l’eau qui coule en abondance du plafond, près de la sortie des Promenades de la cathédrale.

www.lapresse.ca

To my knowledge, the STM hasn't taken advantage of the pandemic to accelerate disruptive maintenance in the same way that the TTC has, which seems like a lost opportunity to me. Getting as much disruptive road and transit work out of the way when traffic and transit ridership is at a once-in-a-century lows seems like a no-brainer.

Instead, Mayor Plante enacted the stupifyingly dumb idea of pushing back disruptive maintenance from 2020 to "give people a break."

 

[p_xavier]

To my knowledge, the STM hasn't taken advantage of the pandemic to accelerate disruptive maintenance in the same way that the TTC has, which seems like a lost opportunity to me. Getting as much disruptive road and transit work out of the way when traffic and transit ridership is at a once-in-a-century lows seems like a no-brainer.

Instead, Mayor Plante enacted the stupifyingly dumb idea of pushing back disruptive maintenance from 2020 to "give people a break."

The STM had its funding cut by the ARTM.

 

[nfitz]

Sounds like the kind of problems New York City is having, and Toronto and London were having a decade or two ago. A lack of adequate funding for repairs, and only $ for big flashy projects.

Ultimately, where it's been fixed, it's been by bringing in new outside management who have the tenacity to make it very clear that the funding is needed. I know nothing about STM leadership though.

https://www.stm.info/en/our-leaders tells me that Tremblay (the CEO interviewed) has worked at STM for 25 years, and is an accountant. While the Chairman (presumably the equivalent of the TTC Chair?) Schnobb was a journalist with CBC.

 

[DSC]

That time they closed Portage and Main to pedestrians​

From link.

Almost 40 years later, Winnipeggers voted on whether to reverse the decision

Yes, the first time I was in Winnipeg (about 30 years ago) I went to P and M as it is so well known. What a depressing intersection!