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Montréal Transit Developments

NoahB said:
Something I didnt notice until now is that planned service on the Deux Montagnes branch on opening will end after 9pm on sections further than Côte-de-Liesse station.

www.ctvnews.ca

Deux-Montagnes REM launches on Nov. 17: Here’s what riders need to know

Noovo Info reports that CDPQ Infra is set to launch the Deux-Montagnes branch of the REM on Monday, Nov. 17—here’s what passengers need to know.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca
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Yes. They’ll use the extra night time hours for further testing.
 
SFO-YYZ said:
“Light rail”. Our local media’s inability to do basic research on transit topics…🤦

Don’t know a single Montrealer who calls it light rail. In English it’s just “the Rem” or “le REM / metro léger” en français for the love of god 😂
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Just because people don't call it light rail doesn't mean it isn't light rail. In the case of REM, it would technically be "intermediate rail" or "medium rail" like SkyTrain and Scarborough RT. No one in Vancouver or Toronto ever calls them that, but that's what they are.
 
SFO-YYZ said:
Wait, so you actually saying REM is “light rail”? Or “medium rail”? 😂

Like, does it really matter how it is technically defined by a small minority group of train enthusiasts?
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The REM's rolling stock is clearly heavy rail. Nearly 3 metres wide, 19 metres long. Roughly matches up with Type B Metro rolling stock in China. Based on single car dimensions alone the REM would be considered a heavy rail full metro and not a MCS medium capacity rail system or light metro. However, the REM trainsets are only 2 cars, 38 metres long, and 76 metres long when running 4 cars. Thus, the listed maximum capacity is 390 to 780 (2 and 4 cars respectively). This lower capacity when running with 2 cars makes it more of a light metro. Otherwise, the cars are definitely full metro size and not light metro. Paris has m̶o̶s̶t̶ all metro lines running much narrower rolling stock than the REM and yet nobody considers those lines light metro.

Heavy rail/full metro>MCS/light metro>premetro>=semi-metro>light rail/tram
 
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SFO-YYZ said:
Wait, so you actually saying REM is “light rail”? Or “medium rail”? 😂

Like, does it really matter how it is technically defined by a small minority group of train enthusiasts?
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Enthusiasts? Light rail, medium rail, and heavy rail are technical terms. You complain and laugh at journalists for not doing research, but seems like you are the one who needs to do research. People can call the Yonge Line a subway, doesn't mean it's not a metro or heavy rail system.

This forum has become a nasty place. Getting ridiculed for using terms like "light metro" and "medium rail": I remember another thread where I was mocked for calculating the impact of frequency increase on travel time, and a mod singled me out and supported the user who mocked me.
 
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Well, here, in the context of transit, they are referring to capacity, because after all that's kind of the whole point of building rail transit. Empty bus is very fast, full bus is very slow. You grade separate GO train crossings to increase the frequencies and increase capacity. Why laugh at me for using those terms. I call TTC subway the subway and Montreal Metro the metro, but I also don't see what's so funny about also calling them heavy rail or rapid transit. Mississauga has their Transitway, is it funny to call it bus rapid transit? TTC has their "streetcars", some in exclusive ROW in median, all with POP, and lines gonna get blurred when those "LRTs" finally open.
 
rbt said:
Worse, they're regional technical terms. Even TTC Line 1 and GO Trains are light-rail in much of Africa; heavy-rail carries coal and aggregate.
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For a fulsome suite of definitions, including regional/national variants, I commend this link:

Passenger rail terminology - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Notwithstanding its utility, the definitions even within the same area do overlap in some measure and include subjective components.

As example - street running in non-segregated corridors would generally be considered 'light rail'; yet there are locations to this day where Freight trains run down City streets w/o row protection. So there is fuzzy space.
 
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Any thoughts as to how the election of Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Ensemble Montreal impact transit planning and operations within Montreal over the next several years?
 
just east of the creek said:
Any thoughts as to how the election of Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Ensemble Montreal impact transit planning and operations within Montreal over the next several years?
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You can read their platform. It was thin on transit. But they sound like they will review bike lanes and possibly remove some.
 
just east of the creek said:
Any thoughts as to how the election of Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Ensemble Montreal impact transit planning and operations within Montreal over the next several years?
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saw them described on bluesky as "suburban revenge party" - sounds ominous

further update: https://cultmtl.com/2025/10/ensembl...d-the-climate-crisis-soraya-martinez-ferrada/
Ensemble Montréal mayoral candidate Soraya Martinez Ferrada is a career politician who held two short-lived cabinet posts in the Trudeau government. Most Montrealers probably know her best for having committed a cardinal sin as a landlord: collecting an illegal security deposit, and an equally illegal cleaning fee.
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NoahB said:
You can read their platform. It was thin on transit. But they sound like they will review bike lanes and possibly remove some.
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It’s pretty much a “bike lanes” election, but even on the issue of bike lanes, the winning party Ensemble is not wholly against the existing network (REV) and may face a ton of local opposition esp from businesses who benefit hugely from the REV and the amount of customers the new network brings. Soraya also said she’s for active transportation and cycling, but for sure, Ensemble won’t be so openly gung-ho about expanding the network as before. To be fair, Projet Montréal made a tremendous contribution to Montreal’s permanent cycling infrastructure - so many major streets have been permanently reconfigured to accommodate for cycling - wider sidewalks, raised cycling paths, protected cycling intersections - they’ll be much much harder to reverse than simply removing a couple of bollards and painted lanes unlike a certain Ontario premier tried to do.

Also, during the election the local media propelled this “bike debate” to the forefront. Ridiculous given the minuscule portion of the total municipal budget that bike infrastructure actually takes on an annual basis (vs other major spending items).

For transit - the 3 big parties are pretty much the same: they want more and all 3 are intensely pro transit. But the issue is more with the province and Quebec City’s willingness to fund large scale transit expansions. For example, REM de l’Est or its successor tramway network.
 
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