SameGuy

That’s pretty amazing. Areas that haven’t seen daylight. Well, north of Cathcart, technically never, but even so, the portal would’ve allowed some light in. I’m fascinated.

1000% d’accord. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Yes I don’t think “10 minutes” is the time for the metro in the tunnel, but the time from leaving the terminal, to getting 115 feet underground, to getting on the train and going the 700m, and finally surfacing at the intermodal station. All in all, much less time and energy than is currently possible. I can currently hustle from the Marriott to the exo parking (north of the tracks) with no luggage in about 12 minutes on foot in ok weather, sweating only a bit. Waiting for the shuttle bus near Door 8 and riding to the stop on Cardinal near the entrance to that parking is around 20 minutes on average. In both cases add at least five minutes to get to the bus terminus south of the tracks.

“Des Taj Mahal”? Est-ce que Mme Ravary a jamais visité l’aéroport Dorval? C’t’une joke, ça? L’édifice principal au dessus de l’aérogare date des années 50! Coudon, elle ne comprend pas c’est quoi une entreprise à but non-lucratif. Avec l’achalandage accrue, ADM a dû dépenser l’argent, point final. Ils ne pouvaient pas mettre de côté quelques sous pour un rainy day, pas de placement avec la Caisse ou d’autre fonds foncière. Ciboyyye

There are no heritage buildings on that strip (see what I did there? 😝) so the rest of the low-rises will get snapped up and demolished relatively quickly after one or two talls go in. It will be a canyon of 80m condos in a hurry.

One factor in the ADM-GTAA conversation is that UP/X was funded with government money. Any negative comment from GTAA could be seen as hypocrisy.

Should the REM be extended to the Dorval train station?

If one has spent any length of time behind the scenes at YUL over the last 25 years (I have), one can’t escape the fact that in good times it is one giant make-work project. Because ADM is a not-for-profit entity, they have to reinvest virtually all revenues in the business. And because things had been going extremely well, there was a LOT of money to spend. That’s why there were always improvement projects underway, and why they decided to announce one of the most ambitious airport renovations in Canadian history. The total tab for the station, landside, and airside projects was projected to come in around $6 Billion (2018) over the following 12 years. But with no revenues — and no clear path out of the darkness — there is no money for major projects until a recovery. The questions then: delay all projects and deal with inadequate facilities when things return to normal? Or reach out for special financing and a charter modification that would allow outside investors and perhaps bond issues?

That was the first time I’d seen it mentioned today (the Gazette article yesterday said it was to be released today). An intermodal station there would be among the most costly in the entire system, so if they can’t quite figure out the financing details yet, I’d at least hope they give the green light to the TBM and secure access (and perhaps expropriate a small parcel of land) from NADG and their Les Jardins Dorval south of the A20.

Yet another article that says what we’ve already learned earlier today about the ongoing discussions between the various concerned parties for help financing the YUL airports station, but this had one line at the end that I haven’t seen elsewhere today: “A report commissioned by the federal government and obtained by Global News concludes the benefits of extending the REM line from the Trudeau airport to a future REM station in Dorval would attract more than 13,000 daily users to the Dorval station by 2024.“ 😳 That’s more than the Trajectoire Québec study last year predicted. https://globalnews.ca/news/7322599/covid-19-coronavirus-rem-construction/

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Let’s not forget the main reason ADM’s revenues are down 97%: our borders have been closed by the federal government and strict quarantine measures imposed by them on anyone crossing any borders. I agree with these measures in general (IMO the restrictions should be on a country-by-country basis, but I get that this may me more cumbersome to implement than a general restriction). If any organization should benefit from preferential terms on loans from the feds, it is airport authorities.

By necessity I drive my car, but comments like this are just ignorant.

The best (or really, stupidest) part of all this: it’s CDPQi that decided to come in from the north, thus deprecating the station under the Marriott that was already built in anticipation of the eventual transit solution from downtown to the airport. The new station had to be dug 35 metres under the parking structure because of the depth of the tunnel that now had to cross under the airfield, and the airport was forced to agree to cover all the costs of its own station for a variety of still-unclear reasons.

Oops. I guess we all jumped the gun on this one. Autrement, “il n’y a aucun intérêt à date.”

Coincidence?

Exactly this! CDPQi has also indicated they are in favour, but they are only the developer and will do it if the government gives the go-ahead. Let’s assume for a moment that it changes nothing from the current plan, and the vault for the Aéroport station is still built with two tracks, and the extended single tail track now continues south of the Circle. We can assume the largest cost won’t be the tunnel, but an entirely new intermodal hub at Dorval: two platform (or central platform) REM terminus, and more-centralized, complementary CP (exo) and CN (VIA) line stations above, plus easy connections to parking, STM bus terminus, and the south side of the Circle for pedestrians. Much of that will indeed fall to the Feds’ ledgers, with TQ paying for the STM and pedestrian stuff. Ottawa and Québec should split the rest. I don’t know if the Caisse would be asked or required to pay any of it, having met the original mandate of serving the airport. I'm also curious if they’ll mention any aid (zero-interest loans) for ADM tomorrow.

I have my fingers crossed that progress and logic take precedence over the usual politics. Every level of government has passed the buck to the Feds, but all concerned parties are in favour of the extension.

It’s all moot anyway. Perhaps future transit can exploit any of these trajectories that have been discussed again and again over the years, and it’s all fascinating speculation, but who knows what’s next.

That fourth image, in spite of the visual pollution, is fantastic. Very revealing.

Oh for sure, I’m not saying Pink is on the table any longer (for all the reasons you cite), I only pointed it out as a different possibility for the airport part of the mandate. In all likelihood it had more to do with future revenue streams for CDPQ — either from their properties, or from the imposed developer fees — than any technical reasons.

CN Montreal & Lachine Railroad, industrial service stub. It is now the linear park along Victoria and Victoria Street that becomes Bouchard in Dorval, and is the same right-of-way expected to be used for the proposed Pink Line’s above-ground western segment. The Google Earth Québec Railway Project KML file is very handy.

🤔 L’emprise CN Victoria est abandonnée depuis des décennies. Il n’y a même plus de rails, c’est un parc linéaire. C’est celle prévue pour la Ligne Rose Ouest.