MONTREAL — Issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the financial impacts of the war in Ukraine have led to the latest delay in opening the first segment of Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain light rail system, officials of the organization building the REM said on Friday.
The CBC reports Jean-Marc Arbaud, CEO of CDPQ Infra — a subsidiary of Quebec pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the driving force behind the project — said the pandemic and war “have led to a certain number of consequences difficult to predict,” while the project’s vice president, Denis Rivard, said that in 40 years of projects, “including 20 years of mega projects internationally, I’ve never seen a situation as difficult as the one we’ve experienced over the last two years.”
Friday’s press conference confirmed reports that opening of the initial, five-stop segment between Montreal Central Station and the South Shore community of Brossard will not come until spring 2023 [see “New delay to be announced for Montreal light rail system,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 21, 2022.] It was originally planned for last year and most recently projected for December. This is a blow for South Shore commuters, who are about to see three lanes of a main commuting route, the Lois-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, closed for at least three years.
Arbaud said he was “very empathic with regard to the different problems in Montreal,” but that “it’s not realistic to roll out the system before going through a certain number of steps that are fundamental.” While construction on the South Shore line is essentially complete and it would be technically possible to complete testing in a few months, CDPQ Infra describes the idea of a mid-winter launch as “far from ideal.”
The rest of the REM system, which has also seen its projected opening pushed back several times, is now slated to open in late 2024.
What on earth does the war in Ukraine have to do with construction of a light rail system in Canada?
Did the Canadian government send too much money overseas to a proxy war to the detriment of its own needs? I wouldn’t put it past Trudeau.
CDP in Quebec is funding the project. Canada has a population of 37 million and does a billion dollars a day of trade with the US. Sending help to Ukraine is not about the break the piggy bank.
Railroads have a global supply chain. A few years ago Trains did a story about UP buying rail from Japan. North America is weak when it comes to commuter rail systems and electrification. Parts or complete systems could be coming from Europe. The war between Russia and Ukraine has cut off the supply of natural gas from Russia. Mysterious explosions destroyed the two gas pipelines under the North Sea. Europe relies on significant amounts of Russian gas for domestic heating, electricity generation and industrial processes. Shortage of gas has reduced production. The Russians are also destroying Ukrainian railroads. Material to repair the system may be getting priority over shipments from Europe to Canada to build a new commuter line.
I don’t have any knowledge of what is happening but I thought a few ideas about how the war might affect construction might be helpful.