AMT could add more departures to Deux-Montagnes
Buying tracks from CN could save $5.2M annually
More departures could be added to the overcrowded Deux-Montagnes commuter train line now that the Agence métropolitaine de transport has purchased it from Canadian National for $92 million.
AMT chief executive Nicolas Girard said the purchase, announced Friday, will make it easier for the transit authority to increase service, though it’s too early to say when that might happen.
“Our objective is to improve service, but we’ll do one thing at a time — the first step was buying the line,” Girard said in an interview.
Passengers have long complained of overcrowded trains at rush hour.
With 49 trains per weekday, Deux-Montagnes has the most departures of any AMT route.
Before the purchase, the AMT leased the line from CN, which uses the tracks for freight trains.
The 12-station, 34-kilometre line, which opened in 1918, is the AMT’s busiest, accounting for 45 per cent of train ridership. It carried 7.5 million passengers last year.
Under the deal, the AMT will get the tracks, stations and land along the right of way. The AMT also becomes owner of the Mount Royal tunnel.
The purchase, which has been discussed, on and off, for years, will save the AMT $5.2 million in annual fees and will give commuter trains priority over freight, Girard said.
When CN owned the line, freight could use it within two time windows — 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
AMT commuter trains will now have priority between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.
In addition to the cost savings and scheduling flexibility, owning the line will also make it cheaper to upgrade Deux-Montagnes infrastruc- ture, Girard said.
He noted the cost of doing work on the line before the purchase was 30 to 40 per cent more expensive because the AMT had to do the work through CN.
One of the key upgrades on the AMT’s wish list is doubling the tracks between BoisFranc and Roxboro-Pierrefonds stations.
That 7.5-kilometre section has only one track, which makes it difficult to add more rush-hour departures and causes delays when trains break down on that stretch.
In its latest capital-works projections, the AMT said doubling the tracks would cost $53 million.
The AMT still does not know when it will add double- decker train cars on DeuxMontagnes, Girard said. Those cars, already in use on some other AMT lines, can carry more passengers.
Girard said he does not know when testing of the double-decker cars will be completed on Deux-Montagnes tracks.
The AMT is not the only transit agency buying tracks from railways.
Toronto’s GO Transit commuter-train service is using a similar strategy. During the past two years, it has spent at least $363 million buying segments of railway lines from CN.