Posted May 30, 2012, 2:17 PM
|
 |
The good old days are now
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Montreal
Posts: 4,258
|
|
Here is Aéroports de Montréal's plan for an elevated train linking the airport to Central Station. The only problem is that Greater Montreal's transit authority (Agence métropolitaine de transport) prefers to build a dedicated commuter rail line parallel to the existing CP tracks and terminating at Lucien L'Allier station (adjacent to Windsor Station). The two organizations can't agree on anything, it seems. In the meantime, the airport will continue to remain unconnected to the city's transit system (despite the existence of a completed underground rail station for several years now).
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4...462.47205.177436015602506&type=3&theater
Quote:
Downtown shuttle would benefit underserved West Island: Aéroports de Montréal president
By François Shalom, The Gazette
May 29, 2012
MONTREAL - An elevated-train shuttle between downtown and Pierre Trudeau Airport could also serve West Islanders by extending the line to Fairview Mall in Pointe Claire, James Cherry said Tuesday.
The president of Aéroports de Montréal told reporters after a luncheon speech to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal that the Deux Montagnes commuter train serves some residents of Pierrefonds and Dollard des Ormeaux and the Dorion line some people in Pointe Claire and Beaconsfield. But a large basin around Fairview Mall at St. Jean Blvd. and the Trans-Canada is underserved and would benefit from the skytrain express, he added.
Cherry noted that all discussions are “very preliminary.”
The line would cost upward of $700 million, but only $200 million has been earmarked for the airport train link by Quebec so far.
And if the Agence métropolitaine de transport, which operates all of Montreal’s suburban train lines, is onboard the concept, it wasn’t apparent.
AMT spokesperson Brigitte Léonard said that “the only project we’re studying at the moment is a dedicated line that would run close to the existing CP line,” part of a $22-million pre-feasibility study.
Cherry said that “we tried to reason with the people at AMT, but we wasted a lot of time because they always insisted on using the CP line (that ends at Windsor train station). We always said that no matter which line we use, it has to arrive at Central Station - the real heart of the city.”
Canadian Pacific Railways Ltd. operates the Montreal-Dorion line while Canadian National Railways runs the Montreal-Deux Montagnes commuter train.
The elevated line, similar in look to the $2-billion Canada Line built for the Vancouver Airport-to-downtown run, is the only solution because using the CP or CN lines would be even more expensive than the skytrain - and passengers are not a priority for the freight train operators.
Cherry, who called the former Mirabel airport “a historic error,” said that “on day one of my tenure (in June 2001), we said we could solve the problem of the infrastructure around the airport, but one day, you’ll have to settle the issue of access to the airport.”
That meant replacing the Dorval circle and adding a rail link to the airport.
Cherry said that the Dorval circle is being fixed, but “all that means is that you’ll get to the traffic jams (on Highway 20) quicker. At 55th (St.), it’s blocked all the way to downtown.”
He said that the operator of the elevated train could make money because it could charge $15 per trip to the airport - but that ADM could end up losing money because train riders would replace car drivers who currently pay for parking.
Still, he added, it woud be well worth it for ADM because of the greater ease and comfort it would afford airport users.
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
|
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/...esident/6697324/story.html#ixzz1wMZSrS9n
|
Prev
Linear Mode
