Plante wants part of proposed REM de l'est built underground
Critics worry elevated rails would be eyesore
Concerned that concrete elevated rails could be an eyesore, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante will ask the province's pension fund to consider burying part of its proposed REM de l'est.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec presented a plan last month to build a $10-billion light-rail project that would link the city's underserved east end and northeast sector to the downtown core. It calls for elevated rails along René-lévesque Blvd., starting at Robert-bourassa Blvd. and running east to where that street intersects with Nôtre-dame St.
Most of the 32-kilometre route would be on elevated rails, except for a seven-kilometre underground portion at Lacordaire Blvd. The aerial route was chosen because of the difficulty of fitting tracks and stations into dense urban settings, especially in the downtown core.
During a news conference announcing the proposal, Plante said CDPQ Infra — the infrastructure wing of the pension fund — would have to prove the rails could integrate into the urban landscape.
Speaking with the Montreal Gazette on Friday, Eric Alan Caldwell, Plante's point person on mobility issues, said the city has serious concerns about how elevated rails would integrate harmoniously into the downtown core.
“If we look at the REM as it is being built in the West Island, and we transport it to René-levesque, that won't work,” he said.
Caldwell said the city believes the best way to integrate the transit project into the downtown landscape is to bury it.
“It's much easier to integrate,” he said. “You don't have to integrate a train, just a few entrances to stations. That's why we want the underground option explored as far as possible.”
Plante and Caldwell will propose a resolution at Monday's council meeting to ask the builders of the REM to study whether the rails can be placed under René Lévesque Blvd., saying integration into the urban landscape is a key element to the project. The resolution will also ask that the city be part of the decision making for every step of the process, including planning, consultation and construction.
Caldwell said despite the concerns, the city isn't opposed to aerial tracks if there is proof they can fit well into the environment.
“It's the biggest public transit project in Quebec's history, so we have to find the best solutions,” he said. “It's a good project, but there is a challenge to integrate it.”
The idea about aerial tracks already has its detractors.
Florence Junca-adenot, a UQAM urban-planning associate professor and a longtime transit planner for the city, said there is “no way” a sky rail can be properly integrated into the city's downtown core. She said what the CDPQ is proposing is
equivalent to building an elevated expressway, but rather than having cars, it would have trains.
“It can't work,” Junca-adenot said. “There's a reason that cities don't do this, and those that have done this, it looks dreadful. Chicago and Miami have it, and if this is the model for Montreal, it's horrible.”
She said the proposed train would create a scar on Renélevesque Blvd. and create an eyesore for anyone looking from afar at the city's Old Port, Chinatown, Place des Festivals and Notre-dame Basilica.
“It's not true that we can do something light architecturally, because a train is heavy, and there are catenary wires on top. It's atrocious.”
A letter penned by several noted urban planners, architects and other concerned stakeholders published in La Presse last week expressed similar concerns. The authors said the proposal would splinter neighbourhoods and seriously affect the quality of life of residents, workers and tourists.
A spokesperson for CDPQ Infra did not return a request for an interview on Friday.