Valérie Plante argues for a new metro line to 5.9 billion $

Laurence Houde-Roy

Laurence Houde-Roy

Tuesday, 10 October 2017 18:34

UPDATE
Tuesday, 10 October 2017 18:40

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MONTREAL | projet Montréal estimated at 5.9 billion $ the cost of construction of the new metro line 29 stations that it offers, and traversing the centre of the city diagonally from Lachine to Montreal-Nord.

When her chief Valérie Plante, candidate for mayor of Montreal, had made public the proposal in 2016, the route of the pink line stops in the city centre. The party is now proposing to extend, with a metro on the surface, up to Lachine.

The head has especially been questioned on the feasibility of this project, on Tuesday at a press conference, while large investments of the provincial and federal governments would be needed for that to happen. “There is a momentum, there is a willingness on the part of governments to fund infrastructure public transit. We need to seize this opportunity,” said Valerie Plant, which gives the example of the creation of the electrical Network, metropolitan (REM) and bank of infrastructure.

This project should also obtain the agreement of the regional Authority of metropolitan transport (ARTM), which oversees all the transport companies of the metropolitan region.

Not naive

The extension of the blue line is in the cards for almost 10 years now and the provincial government has still not voted on the budget that it intends to invest, although it has announced that the commissioning will be in 2025. “I’m not naïve, I am very realistic, I understand very well the current situation, has qualified Ms. Plant. But we can’t sweep the problem [of mobility in Montreal] under the carpet, so I will go negotiate with strength and diplomacy.”

Projet Montréal says it is confident to seek the money necessary in government funding by 2021, for a commissioning of the first 18 stations by 2025.

A “need”

Valérie Plante describes this pink line as a “need”, “necessity”, in order to relieve pressure on the bus network and is on the orange line of the metro, mainly between stations Laurier and Berri-UQAM, which are at full capacity in rush hour.

It considers that this would address also the lack of transport experienced by the residents of the areas of the north-east, such as Rosemont, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Saint-Michel and Montréal-Nord, that will not be served by the REM.

The pink line linking Lachine to Montreal-North in 39 minutes. The inhabitants of Montréal-Nord and Lachine could go to the city centre, respectively, 22 and 17 minutes.

Up these sectors mainly served by bus networks, this would increase the number of people able to get to the city centre in a period of 30 minutes, maintains Project Montreal.

“The current network cannot cope with more traffic without a sustainable solution. It is not necessary to wait for the blue line is over to act, otherwise we will constantly be in catch-up,” argued Valerie Plant.

In 2007, the commissioning of three metro stations in Laval cost about$ 750 Million. The extension of the blue line, meanwhile, is estimated to be nearly$ 3 billion for the addition of five stations.