Mark Carney attends launch of new branch of Montreal-area light rail network

Prime Minister Mark Carney, second right and Quebec Premier Francois Legault, second left flanked by Montreal mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada, right, and CEO of La Caisse Charles Emond, left, disdebark from the REM light rail during its inaugural run connecting McGill station in downtown Montreal to the Deux-Montagnes station in Deux-Montagnes, Que., Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

The northwest branch of a light rail project in the Montreal area was officially inaugurated on Friday, with Canada’s prime minister and other dignitaries along for the first ride.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Francois Legault were among the first invited aboard to ride the Deux-Montagnes branch of the Reseau express metropolitain, or REM, before it opens to the public on Monday.

Carney described the REM as a sustainable and innovative project that can serve as an example of what is needed across Canada. He also thanked the thousand of workers who worked on the expansion.

The project’s construction faced a series of delays during the COVID-19 pandemic, including after some old explosives denotated in a tunnel under downtown Montreal during excavation work in the summer of 2020.

“You faced a pandemic, complex excavations, even an unexpected detonation of century-old explosives, and you persevered,” Carney said. “It is through your efforts that today’s opening has been made possible.”

The new branch of the REM network includes 14 stations, three of which connect to the metro system.

Charles Emond, the President and CEO of Quebec’s pension fund manager, described the driverless, electric train system as “the largest automated light rail line in the world.”

“(It’s) an infrastructure that is called to become a signature for the metropolis and that shows, and this is important, that we are still great builders, able to move forward together to realize projects that can arouse envy and pride,” he said.

Once completed, the 67-kilometre REM network will have 26 stations and is scheduled to cost $9.4 billion.

The light-rail project has faced delays, as well as rising construction costs. The Deux-Montagnes line, as well as another line to Montreal’s West island, were scheduled to enter service in 2024. The West Island line has now been delayed until spring 2026.

But Emond stressed on Friday the speed and cost-efficiency of the build.

He described the construction conditions over the last seven years as “unprecedented,” comprising a pandemic that required workers to be two metres apart, the highest inflation in decades, and the rehabilitation of the 100-year-old tunnel under Mount Royal.

“Despite all this, the REM is (being completed) at a cost that is about half less than the best comparable projects,” he said.

The Deux-Montagnes segment is an extension of the Brossard line, which includes the first five stations of the network that opened in July 2023. The REM now includes 50 kilometres of rail, and 19 stations.

The final leg of the system, linking to Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, is scheduled to open in 2027.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 14, 2025.