Two light-rail stations relocating
Pointe-Claire, Kirkland stops moving to improve user access
Two West Island stations in the proposed electric light-rail network have been relocated.
The relocations were part of a laundry list of changes made to the plans for the Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) that were announced last week.
The changes were the result of a collaboration between the project manager CDPQ Infra, the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec and the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal.
The 67-kilometre rail line will have 24 stations linking the West Island with the airport, Deux-Montagnes, downtown and the South Shore. Seven of the stops will serve the core of the West Island, with the last stop in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.
It was also announced last week that 40 cars will be added to the fleet. The move reduces wait times between trains in the West Island from 12 minutes to 10 minutes.
The new location for the station in Pointe-Claire’s hub is the east side of St-Jean Blvd. near the intersection with Highway 40. It was originally slated for the west side of that intersection. The building of a crucial rail overpass has also been moved from the west to the east side of the boulevard.
Pointe-Claire spokesperson Marie-Pier Paquette-Séguin told the Gazette that the announcement was good news because it responded to direct requests made by the city last fall.
Paquette-Séguin described the original location as “a disaster” because it would have had hurt access to shopping and businesses.
Pointe-Claire will have two stations, the relocated one near StJean Blvd.-Highway 40 and one at the Des Sources Blvd. junction to the east. The stations will act as bookends for a commercial and residential “city centre” for the West Island.
The location of the Pointe-Claire-centre station dovetails with the city’s plans for future residential development.
Land on the north side of Hymus Blvd., near the junction, has been zoned for high-density residential development and Pointe-Claire Mayor Morris Trudeau told the Montreal Gazette last fall that land owned by Cadillac Fairview — on the west side of Fairview Ave. right up to the Kirkland border — will also become a residential development.
The new location for the Kirkland station is at the bottom of Jean-Yves St. near the southwest corner of Parc des Bénévoles.
The original plan had it located near the intersection of St-Charles Blvd. and Highway 40. And a onelevel, open commuter parking lot has been replaced by a plan for a multi-level parking facility.
In a statement, CDPQ Infra said the new location for the Kirkland station aligns with the city’s plan to expand a commercial presence in the area.