KIRKLAND REM STOP TO SERVE AS OFF-ISLAND REGIONAL HUB
While Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue is the final stop on the western leg of the proposed electric commuter train network, it seems commuters in the VaudreuilSoulanges region who may be inclined to drive over to catch a train will be directed to park at the Kirkland station.
It’s expected the Kirkland Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station, to be located on the east side of the Cineplex Coliseum strip mall area near the Highway 40 service road and Jean-Yves St., will have approximately 2,000 multi-level parking spots.
In comparison, the Ste-Anne station, to be situated near the Braerob farmhouse heritage site along Ste-Marie Rd., will probably have 200 parking spots.
“The (Ste-Anne) train station will be facing the old burntout Braerob farmhouse,” SteAnne Mayor Paola Hawa said. “That (Braerob) area will be the entrance to the (proposed) regional park.”
Hawa said the Ste-Anne REM station will have limited parking available, but she hopes most commuters will rely on new bus routes yet to be established, which will link with the West Island’s train stations. Each REM station will have bicycle racks, bus platforms, drop-off areas and parking.
Ste-Anne’s strip of Ste-Marie Road isn’t designed to handle significant out-of-town traffic. Hawa said the town plans to implement measures to discourage this route being used as a shortcut to the Kirkland station, which will be better suited to serve as a regional hub.
“The Ste-Anne station will have a very different profile,” Hawa said.
“Ste-Anne is an eco-station. Yes, it will serve (our nearby) industrial sector but it will also serve as an entrance to the regional park. That character will be reflected in the infrastructure being put in.
“It would be counter-intuitive to put in a huge bus terminal to service the Off-Island people. You have (an overpass) being built to service the Kirkland station. It makes a lot more sense to bring ( buses) there. We can’t have buses clogging up our twolane Ste-Marie Rd.”
That said, Hawa pointed out that the Ste-Anne station will be ideal for students heading to John Abbott College and McGill University’s Macdonald Campus because shuttle buses will be in place to drop them off in the south sector of the town.
Kirkland town officials have successfully lobbied Transport Quebec to build a new overpass at the Highway 40-Ste-Marie intersection for easier access to the REM station near the cinema. There have also been repeated demands from municipal officials in Kirkland and Pierrefonds for a north-south urban boulevard (through the old Highway 440 servitude). This oft-discussed urban boulevard, which would also feature bike paths and reserved bus-taxi lanes, would ultimately run from Highway 40 towards Gouin Blvd.
It would be logical to have the new Highway 40 interchange and the urban boulevard in place before the Kirkland REM station opens. However, this is Quebec. Consider the Dorval Circle ramps-to-nowhere fiasco that was only resolved last fall. The new Highway 20 west direct link to the airport opened about 20 years after the transfer of international flights from Mirabel to Dorval had commenced.
The $6.3-billion REM project, which will start construction later this month, will consist of 26 stations serving Montreal, the North Shore, South Shore and the West Island. The West Island stations along Highway 40 are in Ste. Anne, Kirkland and PointeClaire (Sources-Hymus Blvds. and Fairview Ave.) as well as the airport in Dorval and Pierrefonds and Sunnybrooke. The latter two are part of the Deux-Montagnes leg.
You have (an overpass) being built to service the Kirkland station. It makes a lot more sense to bring (buses) there. We can’t have buses clogging up our two-lane Ste-Marie Rd.