Montreal’s REM airport train station excavation well under way

Excavation has begun on the construction of the future Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station at the Trudeau airport.

Despite that, commuters will still have to wait up to three years after the rest of the rail network starts running in 2024.

“We expect to finish construction sometime in spring 2026,” said Anne-Sophie Hamel, Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) spokesperson.

Then the station has to be inspected and tested by the REM authorities.

According to them the station and the entire artery, which also has the Marie-Curie station, won’t be ready until 2027.

The reason — ADM lost around $1 billion because of the pandemic.

“So we had to go and ask for funding to be able to do the stations,” explained Hamel.  “It’s a $600-million project.”

To help cover the cost Transport Canada is investing $100 million, plus there is another $400 million in loans from the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the Quebec government.

ADM officials insist construction, just metres from the main airport terminal is going well, even if, according to project director Steve Bouffard, having an open excavation just metres from a working airport is a challenge.

“It’s really close to having a mine and having an airport next to it,” he joked.  “Right now we’re at about 18 metres in the excavation phase and we need to go 40 metres down.”

Making it the second deepest station in the REM network, after the Édouard-Montpetit station at 72 metres.

To build the YUL-Aéroport-Montréal-Trudeau station the ADM had to close nearly 2 thousand spots in the multi level parking.

Not all of them will be replaced, according to Hamel, because the airport doesn’t think they will be necessary.

“Because a lot of people are going use this new way of transportation from and to the airport,” she pointed out.

ADM hopes there won’t be any more delays that could potentially derail their schedule.