Rem Montreal opens four western Montreal stations on Anse-à-l'Orme branch
rem montreal added four new stations in western Montreal on the Anse-à-l'Orme branch, opening the segment ahead of its official start. The network now has 23 stations, and the branch is set to enter service on Monday.
Public access was free on Saturday and Sunday between 9 h and 18 h. Regular tariff service applied from 18 h to 1 h 30 during the weekend opening period, giving riders a first chance to use the new stations before fares began.
Anse-à-l'Orme branch
The new branch follows the Brossard and Deux-Montagnes branches already on the Réseau express métropolitain. It adds Kirkland, the highest station in the network at about 24 metres, along with three other western Montreal stations.
Travel from Anse-à-l'Orme to Gare Centrale is expected to take about 35 minutes if everything goes as planned. Pierre Barrieau, an expert in transport planning and a lecturer at UQAM, said, "C'est un projet qui va venir décongestionner beaucoup l'autoroute 40".
REM reliability adjustments
The opening comes after the first two branches saw many outages, service stops and communication problems. CDPQ Infra made adjustments after those issues, and Julien Hurel, vice-president of the REM for CDPQ Infra, said the changes should improve the reliability of the new segment.
Hurel said, "Il y a une "robustification" de certains systèmes qui a été faite. [...] Quand nous avons ouvert Deux-Montagnes [en novembre], nous avons triplé le réseau, mais divisé par deux le nombre d'enjeux. Donc, la tendance est bonne". He also said, "On cherche surtout à avoir des utilisateurs qui ne se posent aucu".
Weekend access on REM
Barrieau said he was glad the branch is opening soon because it gives several months of testing before winter arrives: "Je suis très heureux qu'ils ouvrent la branche bientôt, parce que ça veut dire qu'on va avoir plusieurs mois de rodage avant que l'hiver arrive." For riders in the west end, the immediate change is practical: four more stations are available now, free for part of the weekend, before regular fares and weekday-style service begin Monday.
