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Montreal's Mount Royal Tunnel works is in shambles. Additional Safety work will cause 1,5 years of delay and soaring costs.
Major delays are expected for Metropolitan Express Network (REM) due to the safety concerns posed by the Mount Royal Tunnel. This is what a150 page report by NouvLR, the consortium led by SNC-Lavalin says.
NouvLR says only 41% of the design of the REM was approved by the project owner (Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund CPDQ or "Caisse") in mid-August, while NouvLR planned to be 91%.
Project required upgrading the existing Mount Royal Tunnel which was built between 1914 and 1918. The upgrade is necesssary because the trains will run much more frequenty and faster. Tunnel's 100 year old tunnel may make it a death trap if a fire breaks out while two, three or four REM trains are in the tunnel.
Proposed upgrades require building a wall between the trains running in opposite directions. This wall requires that everything must be done with redundancy, including control systems, lighting and water drainage. Hence just multiply the costs by two. It will add hundreds of millions of dollars to project's existing bill of 6,3 billion dollars. And a delay of at least 1,5 years
Detailed news (French)
REM construction activities to resume May 11.
REM will resume its planned work to ensure the modernization of the Deux-Montagnes line and the Mont-Royal Tunnel.
3 year-long closure for Mount Royal for newREM track construction.
Montreal's Metropolitan Express Network (REM) has more excuses for being (even more) delayed and over-budget.
A 100-Year-Old Explosive Went Off In The Mount Royal Tunnel & Has Delayed The REM
"Mount Royal tunnel explosion and other issues cause REM delays"
https://globalnews.ca/news/7457198/mount-royal-tunnel-explosion-rem-delays/
One should not forget the Covid19 pandemic. At least it is a reasonable reason for any delay. Though Montreal's REM had been delayed even before the pandemic. Whatever...
cover tunnel photo by: Matt Brown from London, England / CC BY
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What were they thinking? If you want to use a 100 year old tunnel for speeds 4-5 times as fast as it was designed for, be prepared to spend some money for safety.