Deux-Montagnes train user appeals to premier to delay REM construction

Faced with the prospect of a longer, more difficult commute, one frustrated Deux-Montagne train user is taking matters into her own hands.

Karolyne Viau took to social media over the weekend, appealing directly to Quebec Premier François Legault to postpone construction on the new light rail train project known as the REM (Réseau express métropolitain).

Viau added her voice to the chorus of riders on the on the Deux-Montagnes exo commuter train who want REM work delayed because of impending train disruptions.

Construction is set to begin Jan. 6, 2020 with part of the Deux-Montagnes line closing.

Commuters will have to add buses and metros to their daily commute. The additional transfers could add up to 45 minutes in transit times.

“Nothing else is in place for us to go downtown and to have a decent time to travel over there,” Viau told Global News.

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She insists the alternative mass transit options authorities are proposing aren’t acceptable and she’s calling on Legault to intervene.

“I want him to have a global vision to probably postpone the works of the REM,” she said.

But the premier has no intentions of slowing REM progress. He has previously admitted that it will be harder to get around initially but that in the long term, service will improve.

But that’s not good enough for for Deux-Montagnes riders, like Viau.

Service on their line will suffer from train disruptions of some sort until late 2023 or 2024.

That’s long enough for a class action suit to have been filed against the management team running the REM, including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Infra division (CDPQInfra), exo and L’Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) —  the agency that oversees mass transit in greater Montreal.

A decision on whether the lawsuit will be heard could be made later this month.