Lien ferroviaire Centre ville - P.E.T. 500++ M$

[Alexcaban]

Confusion reigns over Montreal's long-discussed Trudeau airport-downtown train shuttle, which is supposed to also improve West Island commuter rail service.

 

Feud escalates over Trudeau airport train shuttle

 

Two authorities overseeing project offer completely different versions of projected link

 

By ANDY RIGA, The Gazette May 7, 2010

 

 

Confusion reigns over Montreal's long-discussed Trudeau airport-downtown train shuttle, which is supposed to also improve West Island commuter rail service.

 

A behind-the-scenes feud between the two authorities overseeing the project has blown into the open, with each side using quotes from provincial ministers to back up their versions of what's happening.

 

James Cherry, chief executive of Aéroports de Montréal, told the airport authority's annual meeting yesterday that ADM is moving ahead with the airport train on its own, with Central Station as the shuttle's downtown terminal

 

He said the needed infrastructure will cost $600 million. Quebec announced in its recent budget that it will kick in $200 million. Ottawa is expected to match that amount, Cherry said. "In addition, with partners, (ADM) will invest (another) $200 million in private equity."

 

ADM expects "all the necessary authorizations" within two years, Cherry said. Construction would take 36 months, meaning the train could be running in 2015.

 

But Cherry's comments came as a surprise to the Agence métropolitaine de transport, the authority that runs commuter trains in the Montreal region and that had been working with ADM on the project.

 

The AMT favours a route that, in addition to the airport, would run from Ste. Anne de Bellevue to downtown, ending at a new transit hub next to Windsor Station, part of a major new development in the works by Cadillac Fairview Corp.

 

AMT spokesperson Martine Rouette said no final decision has been made on the airport shuttle or the project's commuter component. She said the committee overseeing the project - which includes the AMT, ADM and provincial and federal officials - is to meet May 14 to discuss recently completed studies.

 

Rouette said the $200 million in provincial funding is contingent on improving train service from Ste. Anne de Bellevue all the way to downtown.

 

In an interview, Pierre Martin, chairperson of ADM's board, said the AMT would be free to use the train infrastructure to improve service between Dorval and downtown.

 

Martin said ADM is in charge of the project. As proof, he pointed to the provincial budget delivered in March, in which Finance Minister Raymond Bachand referred to ADM when he mentioned the $200 million in provincial funding. Bachand said the cash would fund "a rail link between the airport and downtown. The project will be carried out by Aéroports de Montréal."

 

The AMT, for its part, pointed to a statement by Quebec Transport Minister Julie Boulet. On Wednesday, she told a National Assembly committee a final decision on the train link has not been made.

 

"We want one service and that one service should go all the way to the West (Island)," Boulet said.

 

ariga@thegazette.canwest.com

© Copyright © The Montreal Gazette

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Feud+escalates+over+Trudeau+airport+train+shuttle/2996355/story.html

Modifié 8 mai 2010 par monctezuma

[jesseps]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Feud+escalates+over+Trudeau+airport+train+shuttle/2996355/story.html

 

Oh for the love of god Someone please smack sense into these people!

[p_xavier]

Oh for the love of god Someone please smack sense into these people!

 

Seule l'AMT a le pouvoir de pouvoir construire des chemins de fer au Québec sous juridiction provinciale.

[jesseps]

Seule l'AMT a le pouvoir de pouvoir construire des chemins de fer au Québec sous juridiction provinciale.

 

Ain't that lovely [sigh]

 

I wonder how much money the Quebec government gets from AMT vs. the airport.

[OursNoir]

- MONTREAL -- La Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain tient un forum sur les projets de transport à Montréal. Parmi les participants, on note le pdg de l'Agence métropolitaine de transport, Joël Gauthier, le président du conseil d'administration de la Société de transport de Montréal, Michel Labrecque, ainsi que le pdg d'Aéroports de Montréal, James Cherry. (7h30 à 12h00, Delta centre-ville, 777, rue University)

 

Source: http://argent.canoe.ca/lca/affaires/canada/archives/2010/05/20100518-073458.html

[jesseps]

When it comes to the long-discussed new airport train shuttle/West Island commuter train, the only thing James Cherry and Joël Gauthier seem to agree on is that "the time for studies is over."

 

Yesterday, Cherry, in charge of Trudeau Airport, and Gauthier, in charge of Montreal's regional commuter train service, made it clear they fundamentally disagree on where the train should go.

 

Even the seemingly simple question of whether a decision has been made on how to proceed elicited different answers from Cherry and Gauthier, who since 2007 have been trying to come up with a joint train project.

 

They were speaking - separately - at a Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal conference about transportation.

 

Cherry, chief executive of Aéroports de Montréal, the airport authority, said he has the go-ahead from the provincial government for an airport-only project.

 

He said he expects to start construction in 2012 on a $600-million train that will zip passengers between the airport and Central Station every 20 minutes, from 4 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.

 

It could be launched in 2015 and carry 2.4 million passengers - travelling Montrealers, tourists and airport employees - on the 20-minute, 20-kilometre ride in its first year, cutting highway car traffic and making Montreal a more attractive destination, he said.

 

None of the $600 million will be spent west of the airport, Cherry said.

 

He said Central Station is Montreal's most centrally located station, near offices and hotels, and it must be the airport train shuttle's hub.

 

He said Quebec has allotted $200 million to his project and the ADM and its private partners are ready to invest another $200. Cherry said he's confident Ottawa will pony up the missing $200 million.

 

"For us, there's no question of arriving at a station other than Central Station. If we and private partners are financing the project, it's us who will decide the final destination."

 

He said a study showed ridership would be 22-per-cent higher at Central Station than at Lucien L'Allier/Windsor Station, Cherry said.

 

But Gauthier, chief executive of the Agence métropolitaine de transport, an arm of Transport Quebec, said the provincial government has in fact not made a decision.

 

Gauthier said under the ADM plan, commuter service would not improve for the West Island, contradicting Cherry, who said new "express" commuter trains from the West Island could share tracks with the airport train from Lachine to downtown.

 

And Gauthier said the latest study on the train project is favourable to a route that, in addition to a link to the airport, would run from Ste. Anne de Bellevue to a new transit hub slightly east of Lucien L'Allier, next to downtown's Windsor Station.

 

He said that new hub would be just as centrally located as, and just two blocks from, Central Station. Part of a major redevelopment promised by developers Cadillac-Fairview, the hub could also accommodate buses, Amtrak trains and planned tramways.

 

"This would allow us to offer 86 train departures per day," up from the current 27 weekday departures on the Dorion/

 

Rigaud line, which shares tracks with freight trains, he said. "Our priority has always been to improve commuter service" on the West Island and Vaudreuil-Dorion.

 

Quebec hasn't chosen sides yet, Gauthier said. "What the government said in the last budget is they reserved $200 million for the airport shuttle but the (route) is not chosen" and they will decide on it only after going over the latest feasibility study, he said.

 

He said that decision "will be made based on "a cost/benefit analysis, a vision of Montreal's future and the impact on economic development."

 

(Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette)

 

Document

 

Side note

20 km ride for 20 mins is 60 km/h

 

Plus with the video proposal you can see what they want to do with the outside of Gare Centrale

Modifié 19 mai 2010 par jesseps

[MTLskyline]

Weird thing the picture is not Central Station, but its neighbour across the street.

 

This is central station:

[ChrisDVD]

Urgh! c'est laid.... surtout quand qu'on a la Gare Windsor!

[Chris1989]

Just BUILD SOMETHING. I don't think I care which one anymore.

[cprail]

Jusqu'à maintenant je dois dire que je suis franchement indécis.

Je tiens mordicus à ce que le projet soit l'occasion de mettre ne place une sorte de RER pour le west island.