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Montréal Transit Developments

The Alstom/Metropolis train platform is looking to be extremely popular these days and the Montréal project and one closer to home, Sydney's new metro, provide some really good / up to date data on how to use these off-the-shelf (well sort of off-the-shelf) systems for local applications. No doubt some of on here are licking your lips, so to speak? :)

The first section of the Sydney Metro, surprisingly, has come in $1 billion under budget according to the newly re-elected Liberal state Government of New South Wales - this is the section is 33km long (16km of it brand spanking new tunnel and reusing a tunnel that was built for Sydney Trains last decade). Original budget: $8.3 billion, now $7.3 billion - or $221million/km. One of the local commercial TV news outlets reports it was mainly due to tunneling completed 10 months ahead of schedule.

That figure is for everything - fleet procurement, maintenance and storage depots, operation/maintenance over 15 years etc (the whole project is structured in multiple PPPs - the tunneling contract was for $1.15 billion and included the civil works only for the tunnels and station pits - i.e station fitouts, tunnel fit outs (signaling/electricity etc) was in a separate contract - the $1billion savings must come from the other contracts because I doubt it only cost $150 million to do the civil works for 16km of new tunnels and station pits!).

It'll be interesting to see if that per km figure is maintained as the second phase which runs underground for another 15.5 km (entirely new tunnel - 5 TBMs are in use, a specialised one was procured to do the short hop under Port Jackson) and the rest of the line will be a conversion - much like the Montréal/Deux-Montagnes section of the REM.

Montréal's choice to go down the path of 2-car sets, married in peaks, is interesting too - Sydney Metro will be permanent 6-car sets from the outset with all stations built to eventually cater for 8-car sets - can definitely see how Montréal's getting such a good (in a financial sense) deal from this system - multiple branches and really good frequency. Sydney Metro will have 15TPH peak frequency at the opening of the North West section (which is a matter of weeks away) and when the City & Southwest section comes on board they quoting the same type of service level. Lots of scope for frequency increases over time.

Anyhow - I look at the REM and Sydney Metro project and look at another local proposal here - the Suburban Rail Loop which will eventually connect all but 4 of Melbourne's orbital rail lines - and think the government would be made not go down down the path of such an implementation. There's a lot of complexity in the west but eastern and northern sides (ending up at the Airport), I hope they go down the path of building something similar to this.

Although 2-4 car trains (Montréal) will probably be too small, the trains on the new system will have to be similar to the Sydney system (and also run a bit faster than what Montreal/Sydney will see - our gov wants to see a top in service speed of 130kph).
 
Ah, that's a good map!

Gosh, that's a lot of elevated, especially through quiet suburban areas (rather than down arteries). And no sign of sound barriers in the elevated render (but in an at-grade render?)

Is there no residential uproar? I'd think the noise would be significantly louder (and much more frequent) than before.
Only in TMR for the moment, but they won't have any difference in elevation compared to the current train, so while there will. be many more of them, it should be more quiet.

It's still less intrusive than Vancouver's Expo line.
 
Only in TMR for the moment, but they won't have any difference in elevation compared to the current train, so while there will. be many more of them, it should be more quiet.
More quiet? Are they adding new barriers there? It's those houses further west I wonder about, which back onto the tracks, once you get off the island.

It's still less intrusive than Vancouver's Expo line.
True, though I don't recall seeing suburban houses backing on the Expo line - but I've not ridden it all the way into New Westminster, and there's been a lot of development along the corridor in Burnaby since - which I don't think is going to happen as much in Ile Bigras or the north shore!

Perhaps they don't realize what they were in for. It used to be everyone knew about the noise issues relating to the elevated trains in Chicago and New York, it was a constant part of North American media in the 1940s and 1950s. There certainly seems to be a lot of awareness in Vancouver along the proposed Millennium Line extension to UBC which makes people campaign against elevated Skytrain there.
 
Is there no residential uproar? I'd think the noise would be significantly louder (and much more frequent) than before.
Perhaps they don't realize what they were in for.

If there's any outrage about noise, it's been drowned by the outrage about the train service getting suspended for years.

But it's also possible, like you said, that people don't realize, or even can't get information about, what they're in for (It's not exactly being advertised.)

The communications strategy seems to be centered around disclosing as little as possible and then putting residents in front of a fait accompli.
 
Ah, that's a good map!

Gosh, that's a lot of elevated, especially through quiet suburban areas (rather than down arteries). And no sign of sound barriers in the elevated render (but in an at-grade render?)

Is there no residential uproar? I'd think the noise would be significantly louder (and much more frequent) than before.

Unless I'm reading this wrong (sorry english isn't my first language), it's almost as if you are hoping that there'd be more uproar, and that this entire project would tank.
 
Ah, that's a good map!

Gosh, that's a lot of elevated, especially through quiet suburban areas (rather than down arteries). And no sign of sound barriers in the elevated render (but in an at-grade render?)

Is there no residential uproar? I'd think the noise would be significantly louder (and much more frequent) than before.

Shocking to witness a metro region where its citizens seemingly aren't deadset NIMBYs nor has their rapid transit be built strictly following a street grid, eh? Shockingly refreshing change of pace to me.
 
Unless I'm reading this wrong (sorry english isn't my first language), it's almost as if you are hoping that there'd be more uproar, and that this entire project would tank.
Not sure why you'd think that. We've talked a lot about such uproar both here and in Vancouver, and I've made a lot of fun of the Nimbys who object to such things. I've also said that this project is great for Montreal (though I have my doubts that it's as idyllic as some make out ... for example the design of the interchange stations for example is very poor and inefficient).

I'm simply surprised that they are having such an easy go of it turning an infrequent service running past houses with no barriers into a metro-like service.
 
Although 2-4 car trains (Montréal) will probably be too small, the trains on the new system will have to be similar to the Sydney system (and also run a bit faster than what Montreal/Sydney will see - our gov wants to see a top in service speed of 130kph).

You are forgetting one thing, however.

Montréal already has an existing high-capacity subway system. This is simply another layer of transit that is being put down on top of it. A lot of experts have no qualms about the capacity of the line, either or day 1 or in the short-to-medium term because of this. It will provide more capacity than currently exists on the corridors that it is being built in.

Dan
 
Entirely grade separated

Here's the map:
Orange = viaduct/bridge/overpass
Blue = at grade/embankment
Green = underground

carte-rem-trace.png

Deux-Montagnes Branch:
Underpasses will be built so that Toupin St and Sunnybrooke St. can pass under the at-grade REM tracks.
The REM will run elevated around Roxboro-Pierrefonds station
I6FCpfe.jpg


It will likely run on an embankment past Sainte-Dorothée Station, possibly in Deux-Montagnes too
YF5hWqT.jpg
gNYvKUe.png


West Island Branch:
Completely elevated
Hero_Photos-videos_low.jpg
CIB-REm-STATION-kirkland-INSIDE-mainweb.jpg


South shore branch:
From Central Station, it will run on the existing rail viaduct until it hits Shannon street.
From Shannon, it splits onto its own overpass over De La Commune street and starts ascending as it crosses the Lachine Canal:
photo credit: ThomasH on mtlurb

South of the Canal, it crosses over the rail tracks and runs entirely elevated until Nun's Island, where it crosses above the highway
54521288_10161439701550065_3581532554794106880_o.jpg

Then it continues at grade in the A-10 median, passes under Highway 30, and then passes over the southbound lanes to reach the terminal station

Jwl7hlN.jpg
Station-RiveSud.jpg

Just for reference, Purple is an already existing electrified commuter line in Montreal.

So its just a conversion and upgrade to Light Rail with more stations. But the service already exists.

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So its just a conversion and upgrade to Light Rail with more stations. But the service already exists.
That's what I 'd thought, being light rail, But the poster indicates it's going to be fully grade-separated as well, which means a lot of infrastructure upgrades through suburbia west of Roxboro. You can see on the earlier part of that, that some sections will be elevated.
 
You are forgetting one thing, however.

Montréal already has an existing high-capacity subway system. This is simply another layer of transit that is being put down on top of it. A lot of experts have no qualms about the capacity of the line, either or day 1 or in the short-to-medium term because of this. It will provide more capacity than currently exists on the corridors that it is being built in.

Dan
A CBC/SRC journalist posted yesterday that stations platforms would either be 80m or 100m. I guess 100m would be for the underground platforms to futurproof the service, but I've yet to see an official answer from the CDPQi.

Light rail whatever, it's pure rapid transit. It uses full width Alstom Metropolis in 2x2 configuration trains. https://rem.info/en/news/design-rolling-stock (discover the REM's metro cars) More pics are available at the Instagram @rem_metro

I had posted in the Downtown Relief Line that the CDPQi is currently looking for an expert firm to analyse transit infrastructure projects outside Québec and another one for Québec projects. New REM lines proposals should be assessed in 18 months max. The timingof such expertise is odd because it would fit with the new orientations of Queen's Park for the DRL. The CDPQi had already offered the Wynne government to help build/finance Toronto infrastructure but she declined.
 
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Shocking to witness a metro region where its citizens seemingly aren't deadset NIMBYs nor has their rapid transit be built strictly following a street grid, eh? Shockingly refreshing change of pace to me.
It helps that the REM can't be challenged in courts basically, there's a law in place just for the REM. Most favour the REM except the oddballs and streetcar/LRT fanatics. It's mostly the mitigation plan for train replacement that upsets people to no end.
 
It uses full width Alstom Metropolis in 2x2 configuration trains. https://rem.info/en/news/design-rolling-stock
The REM Light Rail is certainly a significant advance for urban service in Montreal - but it's not full width Alstom Metropolis. The link says that the light rail cars are 2.94 metres wide (and about 19 metres long). It's reported that Metropolis can be up to 3.2 metres wide, which is what you typically see on North American heavy-rail subway lines. I'm not sure what the constraint here is as the current MR-90 vehicles are 3.2 metres wide - so it's not the tunnel.

I'm not sure about the seating though ... there was an uproar here when this type of New York City style "cattle-car" seating was proposed. Given the commuter-like length of the service, I'd thought there'd be significantly more seating. It looks like there only 32 seats in 19-metre long car. Compared to 80-92 seats in the existing 26-metre long cars.

This means that there'd only be 128 seats in a full length 76-metre long train, compared to a maximum of 850 seats in the current 260-metre long trains. I'm not sure how often they run a full 10-car consist though. Hmm, looking at some aerial photographs, I do see 10-car consists ... and even a 12-car consist in the yard - they don't actually run that do they?

Probably a non-issue for a short ride from Central Station to the Blue Line. But I'm not sure it's going to sell well for suburban, rather than urban riders!

It helps that the REM can't be challenged in courts basically, there's a law in place just for the REM.
Good grief - really? Quebec often boggles my mind, with such things, and the recent racist laws to ban (among other things) Sikh bus drivers that have been all over the news this week.

Iost favour the REM except the oddballs and streetcar/LRT fanatics. It's mostly the mitigation plan for train replacement that upsets people to no end.
Again I'm surprised ... I'd think that LRT and streetcar fans would be thrilled by this, as it's very urban. It's the long-distance suburban riders who tend to oppose LRT and streetcars that I'd think would be up in arms.
 
The REM Light Rail is certainly a significant advance for urban service in Montreal - but it's not full width Alstom Metropolis. The link says that the light rail cars are 2.94 metres wide (and about 19 metres long). It's reported that Metropolis can be up to 3.2 metres wide, which is what you typically see on North American heavy-rail subway lines. I'm not sure what the constraint here is as the current MR-90 vehicles are 3.2 metres wide - so it's not the tunnel.

I'm not sure about the seating though ... there was an uproar here when this type of New York City style "cattle-car" seating was proposed. Given the commuter-like length of the service, I'd thought there'd be significantly more seating. It looks like there only 32 seats in 19-metre long car. Compared to 80-92 seats in the existing 26-metre long cars.

This means that there'd only be 128 seats in a full length 76-metre long train, compared to a maximum of 850 seats in the current 260-metre long trains. I'm not sure how often they run a full 10-car consist though. Hmm, looking at some aerial photographs, I do see 10-car consists ... and even a 12-car consist in the yard - they don't actually run that do they?

Probably a non-issue for a short ride from Central Station to the Blue Line. But I'm not sure it's going to sell well for suburban, rather than urban riders!

Good grief - really? Quebec often boggles my mind, with such things, and the recent racist laws to ban (among other things) Sikh bus drivers that have been all over the news this week.

Again I'm surprised ... I'd think that LRT and streetcar fans would be thrilled by this, as it's very urban. It's the long-distance suburban riders who tend to oppose LRT and streetcars that I'd think would be up in arms.
Sorry, I meant full compared to the Montreal metro. It's not wider, I suspect, to prevent any VIA train from using the tunnel. Again, my assumption.

Wow, ok. Benefits of the group trumps benefits of the individual. People in English Canada don't seem to understand that simple principle. It's not about race it's about religious influence in an authority figure.
 
Sorry, I meant full compared to the Montreal metro. It's not wider, I suspect, to prevent any VIA train from using the tunnel. Again, my assumption.
The Montreal Metro trains though are exceptionally narrow compared to most North American subway lines.

Wow, ok. Benefits of the group trumps benefits of the individual. People in English Canada don't seem to understand that simple principle. It's not about race it's about religious influence in an authority figure.
Our courts concluded years ago that it was racist to tell SIkhs they couldn't wear turbans. I'm amazed that anyone could defend such blatant and unnecessary racism in a free and democratic society. That those racists need to suspend the Charter of Rights to ban Sikhs from wearing turbans is proof of that!

The "religious influence in an authority figure" is simply what racists use to defend their unacceptable racism. We need to name, shame, and ban racists in our society.

Not sure what English Canada has to do with it - I'm seeing enough outrage from Francophones on my personal Facebook feed.
 
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