Magali Barré lives on Ile-Bigras, an island that sits in the midst of Pierrefonds, Ile-Bizard and the island of Laval.
Using the Deux-Montagnes line, her commute time to Montreal is currently 35 minutes. But she’s concerned that in a matter of months it’s about to become a nightmare in both directions.
“It seems like we’re being held hostage,” she said in French from the rail platform.
She’s part of a group applying for a class action lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court accusing officials at the area’s commuter rail service, and those in charge of the upcoming REM electric train, of ignoring the needs of tens of thousands of commuters in planning the new train line, and not communicating changes enough in advance.
Longtime Dollard-des-Ormeaux commuter Sandy Weigens, who is contemplating whether to join the class, points to an example. For four years of work on the REM, commuters on the Deux-Montagnes line were slated to take express buses to the Sauvé Metro station, which is on the eastern side of the orange line.
Get daily National news
Recently transit officials changed that plan to drop commuters off at the Cote-Vertu Metro station. But that plan may also be revised because the station will be closed for some months for work on an underground garage.
“Throughout this project it seems like the Keystone cops are making the decisions,” Weigens said.
Global News reached out to the agencies named in the lawsuit but they would not comment on pending litigation.
_848x480_1397405763961.jpg?h=360&w=540&crop=1&quality=70&strip=all)
Comments