Exo chalks up July train delays to bad luck
But agency says renovations for REM will continue to have an effect on lines
After a disastrous July, the agency that runs the region’s commuter trains hopes it has turned a corner on delays and cancellations on two of its train lines.
For the first two weeks of last month, delays were so bad on the Deux-Montagnes line that more than one out of every four trains on that line were delayed or cancelled.
The week of July 1-7 saw only 74.3 per cent of trains on the DeuxMontagnes line arrive on time to their final destination, and the following week it dipped down to 71.3 per cent, according to figures posted on the agency’s website. The Mascouche line had only 69.4 per cent of its trains arrive on time in the first week of July, but that improved to 89.7 per cent in the second week.
Exo’s Deux-Montagnes and Mascouche lines are being affected by work being done to renovate the Canora, Mont-Royal and Montpellier train stations for the new Réseau express métropolitain.
The work has forced the closure of three kilometres on one of two tracks since June 25, a stretch that includes the Mount Royal tunnel.
The agency’s goal is a 95-percent on-time rate.
However, Exo spokesperson Caroline Julie Fortin said because of the REM work, the agency can no longer guarantee that its trains will run on time on the Mascouche and Deux-Montagnes lines, which both use the Mount Royal tunnel.
“It has a domino effect,” she said. “When one train is affected, more trains are disrupted as a result.”
For example, a passenger suffered a medical emergency on July 13 at 3:35 p.m. on a train headed to Deux-Montagnes, and although first responders were able to save the man’s life, it caused seven other trains to be delayed and one to be cancelled during the afternoon and evening peak period. Several trains on the Mascouche line were also affected.
Fortin chalked up July’s delays to bad luck, but said the new reality is many more trains will be affected when there is a problem, until the REM work is completed in 2020.
When asked if a disastrous winter is in store for commuters on
Ithas a domino effect. When one train is affected, more trains are disrupted as a result.
the two train lines, Fortin said the agency is following a plan to improve winter operations by updating faulty and old equipment, refurbishing old train cars on the Deux-Montagnes line, and adding staff at key points on the line.
It is hoped the measures will reduce delays that seem to crop up more often during winter time when weather conditions wreak havoc on train equipment.
“But obviously, I can’t predict the unpredictable,” Fortin said.