The completion of Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has been postponed yet again.
Officials are blaming “highly complex” work in the Mont-Royal tunnel for the delay, saying the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches will not open by the end of the year as planned.
In a work update published on Wednesday, REM officials said they are still working to modernize the Mont-Royal tunnel, a century-old infrastructure that runs through the mountain.
As a result, technical tests have yet to begin, and phase two of the network linking the North Shore, Laval and the West Island to downtown Montreal will not take place at the end of 2024 as planned.
In its update, the REM did not specify a new timetable, saying the start date for phase two is “to be determined.”
According to Radio-Canada, the first media outlet to report the news on Wednesday, things are not expected to get underway even by early 2025.
Before they can begin testing in the tunnel, the REM still has to install bollards, sensors and 600 km of electrical cables.
The organization insists that workers are on the ground “day and night, seven days a week” to maintain the pace of work in the tunnel.
Technical tests will begin “in the next few weeks” between the Deux-Montagnes and Sainte-Dorothée stations and will gradually be extended to the entire network over the summer.
The launch of the REM has been marked by numerous delays.
One branch is currently in service, linking downtown Montreal to Brossard on the South Shore.
It welcomed its first passengers last summer.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 24, 2024.