Torontonians, look away: Montreal’s new train upgrade is going to make your morning streetcar delay feel even worse.
Driving the news: A new 14-station transit line extending Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has begun regular operations, marking the completion of one of Canada’s largest public transit projects in decades.
- The swanky-looking REM expansion — mostly funded by an arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec pension — has high-frequency, driverless trains scheduled to run every 2.5 minutes during rush hour.
- Notably, the project was built for just $140 million per kilometre. For comparison, Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown will cost ~$700 million per kilometre (and is 5 years late, and counting), while the new Ontario Line will cost over $1 billion per kilometre.
Why it matters: The relative success of the REM project is a win for the Caisse, and could serve as a model for pension funds backing other new transit projects.
- Without the political turnover and pressures that governments deal with, pension funds may be better positioned to assess a project's viability and bring enough expertise to build it affordably and quickly.
Yes, but: Caisse has a unique mandate to invest a portion of its funds within Quebec. Other major Canadian pensions, tasked only with maximizing returns, may not find that transit projects offer the best bang for their beneficiaries’ buck.—LA