MONTREAL — There are Montreal commuter rail lines threatened with closure. A report by Autorité Régionale de Transport Métropolitain suggests that closing three commuter rail lines could save up to C$21 million annually, CBC News reports. Commuters would be served by bus connection to adjacent rail lines instead.
They are the three least-traveled EXO commuter rail lines, serving Candiac in the south, Mascouche in the north, and Mont-Saint-Hilaire in the east. The report is dated Aug. 29.
“There are very few cities in the world that are closing train lines. On the contrary, they’re trying to multiply them,” says Mont-Saint-Hilaire Mayor Marc-André Guertin. “Right now, there aren’t reserved lanes everywhere so more buses in traffic is nonsense.”
The Candiac line runs adjacent to the Expo Rail museum and also sees Amtrak’s Adirondack.
ARTM attributes the cuts to reduced post-pandemic ridership and financial constraints stemming from the conversion of the Deux-Montagnes line to the Réseau Express Métropolitain light rail line.
Candiac and Mascouche are on Canadian Pacific routes and Mont-Saint-Hilaire is on a Canadian National route.
The Candiac route comes from what was the CPR Montreal commuter network It follows what was the CPR line to New Brunswick from the former Windsor Station.
The ADIRONDACK runs into Canada on the CN Rouses Point Subdivision, joining the CN Maritimes mainline near St. Hyacinthe. It does share the last few mainline miles into Central Station with the threatened Mont Ste. Hilaire service, but it does not run on any current or former CPKC route after crossing into Canada at Rouses Point, NY. However from Schectady to Rouses Point in New York state it uses CPKC (D&H) tracks.