https://www.planetizen.com/news/2023/08/124945-new-rem-light-rail-launches-montreal
As long as the trains can eventually become double the length, then Montreal can avoid a Vancouver type delema.
https://rem.info/en/reseau-express-metropolitain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=REM+Train
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Samuel-De+Champlain+Bridge
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article760907.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reseau_express_metropolitain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent
| Train length | 38.1 m (125 ft) per unit |
|---|---|
| Car length | 19.05 m (62 ft 6 in) over coupler faces |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent#Design_and_construction Two 125 foot trains = 250 feet, or half the length of a 9 car Metro train.
An 8 car [19.05 m (62 ft 6 inch)] REM train version of this would be great for Vancouver, but an improved Skytrain could be just as good. Unfortunatly, BC has a tough time thinking big for the future.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/rem-service-disruptions-continue/
However, any elevated line or exposed rapid transit train in Montreal, is always potentially disrupted during the winter.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-rem-out-of-service-1.7461000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9seau_express_m%C3%A9tropolitain#Future_sections
The genius of the Montreal_Metro trains is that they are all underground.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/17/stormy-weather-continues-in-montreal/
Vancouver & BC always have a difficult time in properly planning & building infrastructure for significant future capacity. Thus, just because the SkyTrain is considered to be a Light Rail Vehicle, it still should have been designed to eventually have (152.5m) long trains, like the Montreal Metro has. If you are visiting from Montreal or Toronto, you will be shocked as to how short the Vancouver SkyTrains & stations are.
It's not that BC is in some kind of a timewarp, it's just that there has been some kind of a strange multigenerational mentality or agenda. Since the BC part of Canada doesn't have the authority or the technology to generate a force_field around its perimeter, the next best thing was to have very restrictive laws. That's especially the case for Vancouver & Victoria. Plus, a general encouragement to symbolically think small & backwards.
Having short trains, narrow bridges & mostly short buildings, all fits in with the symbolism of a reluctance to accommodate significant urban growth. Canada it self is also part of this larger predicament. Despite its size, Canada is nowhere close to containing even just 1% of the worlds population. Given that most of the human population is non-white, this poses an interesting dilemma.
Of course during tougher economic times, immigration is generally frowned upon. However, even during various economic boom-times, Vancouver & Victoria continued to lag behind with the scale of its infrastructure development.
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article1084656.html
Handling of environmental-impact consultation for Trudeau airport expansion is ‘scandalous,’ activist says https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article1058167.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9seau_express_m%C3%A9tropolitain#Stations
https://rem.info/en/airport , https://rem.info/en/map
https://rem.info/en/travelling/stations/yul-aeroport-montreal-trudeau Length of each platform: 80 m
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/montreal-rem-vancouver-skytrain-comparison Montreal built a Metro with 152.5 m stations & a commuter rail system, then eventually the REM.
Vancouver & BC should have designed the SkyTrain to initially have all of its stations at 100 m with the capability to be expanded to at least 155 m. Unfortunatly, the first 2 lines only have 80 m stations & the YVR-Canada-Line only has 50 m stations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_rail_transit_in_Canada#Existing_systems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Or_vNc2Z4&list=RDCMUCf4iKXL_SJQ5d0qsKkboRRQ&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usk9J-tpzTA&list=RDCMUCf4iKXL_SJQ5d0qsKkboRRQ&index=5
the Montreal Metro, North America's 3rd busiest subway system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfYgsWxqiUg metro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJPr0UOR3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEiPl-EdHYc REM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnXj0_H71ig&list=RDCMUCf4iKXL_SJQ5d0qsKkboRRQ&index=13 REM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFSm9QLHrLw rem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ5Hxor0vAM
Unlike BC, at least Montreal has a good level of infrastructure, when its working.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2024/11/01/service-green-line-montreal-metro/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiTS6RYr_Vw , https://www.youtube.com/@ReseauexpressmetropolitainREM/videos
Le REM, un nouveau trait d’union https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEu817iPBws
A Ride on the Montreal REM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q23mkh8rX88, https://www.youtube.com/@RMTransit/videos
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/montreal-rem-vancouver-skytrain-comparison
If the SkyTrain could ever have longer stations & longer trains, then it might be on the same level as even the Montreal Metro, let alone REM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Royal_Tunnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Royal_Tunnel#REM
https://rem.info/en/news/first-passage-rem-through-mount-royal-tunnel-and-start-dynamic-testing-area
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article144286.html
Even the REM train stations should be expandable to eventually accomodate 6-8 car trains.
The Dunsmuir_Tunnel was rebuilt to become a double deck tunnel providing a split_platform station configuration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_platform#North_America
Unfortunatly, the Burrard_station & Granville_station platforms were only built to be 80m, when they should have been 155m-160m. This would have helped to eventually have 9 car SkyTrains, just like 9 car Montreal Metro trains.
With proper long-range planning in mind, the SkyTrain should have been planned to eventually be a double length LRT system. Instead, its been challenging enough just to establish 5 car trains on the first 2 lines.
Unfortunatly, the 3rd line or Canada_Line was built to only have 50m, whereas the Montreal Metro has 152.5m long stations.
The Canada_Line_Stations have platforms that are only 50 metres (160 ft) long, when all the stations should have been built with a future clearance of 160m. That would have allowed for a future provision to eventually accommodate at least 8 car trains at each station.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/montreal-metro
It would have been total chaos if the Montreal_Metro (MM) only had 80m stations, just like on the first 2 SkyTrain lines. An absolute disaster if it only had 50m stations like on the very underbuilt Canada Line. Unfortunatly, Vancouver took the watered down approach, decades after what Montreal did right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro#Rolling_stock
When starting in the 1960s, the MM could have 3 & 6 car trains and a 9 car train during busy times, in recent decades, it's just 6 and 9 car trains.
Streetcars and trams, along with buses, can help any Metro train or Subway system. Unlike Montreal and Vancouver, cities like Melbourne, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, SF and New Orleans, retained some of their tram or streetcar lines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10
| 9 articulated cars per train |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10#Specifications
Of course a good urban transportation network keeps evolving and the REM trains are a nice addition. The REM trains should eventually be at least as long as those on the Sydney Subway.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Montreal+Metro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G1oeIAfxDU
New REM metro line to Deux-Montagnes in Montreal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oq-9kkZba8
Montreal's Metro Is Great...But Could Be Better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQQWM87alMY
Evolution of the Montreal Metro & REM 1966-2030 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zvOk2t1EpE
The REM vs. Reality: Does Montreal's new train meet expectations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq1xpxOt7FM
The Transit Every Airport Needs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeVZVluQWI&t=247s
https://www.upexpress.com/en/about-up/things-are-looking-up Its only a two and three car train, when it should be between 4-6 cars, depending upon the time of day. https://www.torontopearson.com/en/transportation-and-parking/up-express
At least it's not a perpetual 2 car train joke that is the YVR-Canada Line. The eventual airport REM line should consist of 4 car trains, but the entire REM should eventually have 6 car trains.
Somehow, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Perth all are able to have longer trains to the airport. The 10 car SFO-BART trains are pretty cool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champlain_Bridge_(Montreal,_1962-2019) Both became classic 6 lane bottlenecks or chokepoints. That's because more than 6 lanes of traffic connected to such bridges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge An 8 lane bridge with 2 REM tracks. While I would like it to have been 10 or 12 lanes with 4 tracks, its still so much better than what backwards Vancouver would allow. 8 lanes plus 2 HOV lanes & 2 bus lanes, because the REM train isn't running 24 hours.
The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge are just too inadequate to be modern transportation crossings.
The inept Lion_Bridge should have had bus & train tunnels built next to it decades ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge An 8 lane road tunnel could allow the Lions-Gate-Bridge to become a foot & bike crossing, but that's what a proper big city would do.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVfdglQUAAEiQZV?format=jpg&name=large Vancouver Stumps vs. Towers.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouvers-shrinking-skyline Holding Vancouver back is what you do when you symbolically don't want to acomodate growth. Whit so much scaled back infrastructure, who knows where the money went?
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/r2-rapidbus-north-shore-metrotown-burnaby-route-extension
https://aquilinidevelopment.com/community/kwasen-village
https://dailyhive.com/montreal/montreal-trudeau-international-airport-yul-expansion-rem-train
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/corporate/about-us/future-projects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUL%E2%80%93A%C3%A9roport-Montr%C3%A9al%E2%80%93Trudeau_station
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/parking-and-transport/roadworks
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/yul-trudeau-airport-10-billion-transformation-1.7586489
Eventually, the Pierre+Elliott+Trudeau+International+Airport could have 3 long runways. Fortunately, there is enough clearance to lengthen the shortest runway.
https://www.admtl.com/en-CA/community/soundscape-management/construction-on-runways-and-taxiways
Orly_Airport has 3 runways.
Sea-Tac also has 3 runways, but are all parallel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle-Tacoma_International_Airport
Heathrow_Airport has 2 very long runways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathrow_Airport#Future_expansion_and_plans
Charles_de_Gaulle_Airport has 2 very long runways, plus 2 of moderate length.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT#Future_plans
https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-bus-projects/pie-ix-brt
An express bus route is already good, but BRT is even better.
https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/montreals-new-pie-ix-rapid-transit-route-is-finally-opening-heres-where-you-can-go Slow to being implamented, but not as slow as Vancouver, BC.
https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/article/21286422/greater-montreals-pieix-brt-begins-operations
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pieix-rapid-bus-transit-inaugurated-1.6639291 Unlike Montreal, the Vancouver approach is quite a sad joke. Unless Vancouver improves its bridges or at least allows some bus bridges to be built, it will remain as the quintessential example of what not to do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal#Transportation
bus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgPICHuJvPg
Elevated Trains Are Good, Actually https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5PieqjOuzA
