Share this Story: North Shore mayors call for extension of REM commuter train
North Shore mayors call for extension of REM commuter train
The area extends from Oka to L'Assomption and has a population of more than 600,000.
Presse Canadienne
Lia Lévesque
Jan 18, 2021 • January 18, 2021 • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Construction of the REM along Highway 40 at Sources Blvd. in Dollard-des-Ormeaux Sept. 24, 2020. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette
The mayors of two North Shore municipalities are calling for the extension of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) commuter rail network to their territories on a route that would run east-west across the entirety of their regions.
Boisbriand Mayor Marlène Cordato and Terrebonne Mayor Marc-André Plante told reporters on Monday the extension could follow the route of Highway 640.
North Shore mayors call for extension of REM commuter train Back to video
Montreal's North Shore region extends from Oka to L'Assomption , and is composed of 20 municipalities with 610,000 residents.
The mayors' proposal would see the region provided with public transit that did not pass through Montreal or Laval.
Cordato and Plante said the idea that their area is a "bedroom community" of Montreal was out of date, noting that 66 per cent of travel recorded in the area in 2018 was internal.
"It's not normal that it takes two hours and a connection at Berri-UQAM to link Repentigny and Ste-Thérèse," Plante said. "It doesn't make any more sense to ask our citizens to reduce their trips by car when their commute takes three times longer in transit."
Asked about the potential cost of such an extension, Cordato said the question to ask was "what is the cost of doing nothing today for all the citizens of the North Shore?"
Plante acknowledged that the plan was 'ambitious" and with delays in planning, conception and construction, it wouldn't be complete until the next decade. He said it would be difficult to calculate how much it would cost by then.
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