New tile for the Réseau express métropolitain (REM). The light train suffered a long service interruption of almost four hours on Thursday due to a failure of its control system.
This was indicated by CDPQ Infra, the subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec which manages the light train, on the social network X. On social networks, the irritation of several users was palpable.
The organization had initially announced a slowdown in service due to an emergency brake being applied on board a train, shortly before midday, before confirming a total interruption of service in both directions, for an indefinite period, linked to a breakdown in the control system.
Users who were on board the trains were then evacuated and bus shuttles were set up to provide a link between Montreal Central Station and Panama Station. Train service nevertheless remained available between Panama and Brossard stations.
Shortly before 3 p.m., while the service was still at a standstill, the Caisse clarified that “exceptionally, the relief bus service is maintained between the Gare Centrale and Brossard stations.” “Despite rush hour, the bus service is not redirected to the Longueuil terminus,” we added.
Several technical glitches once again accumulated in the space of a single day for the REM. As soon as it opened, Thursday around 5:30 a.m., an as yet unidentified technical problem had already caused a slowdown in service towards Brossard. However, the problem was resolved fairly quickly and the service was able to be restarted shortly after 6 a.m.
All this comes as the South Shore section of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) will soon celebrate its first anniversary, next July. With 11 months of experience, the train is now completing its running-in phase, CDPQ Infra admitted earlier this week in an interview with La Presse.
The operator believes it has made significant progress in management and communication since the inauguration. For example, while a few months ago, restarting the light rail after a breakdown took an average of one hour, today it generally takes around 20 minutes.
Furthermore, the system “updates” that the REM has had to carry out almost every weekend for several months, forcing the train to close at the start of the day, should fade away by the end of the summer. In the short term, however, we are still planning these updates for the next three weekends.
Typically, the process takes six hours. And since the REM is in service 20 hours a day, two hours of service must necessarily be removed each time.
