Quebec Transport Minister Benoit Charette says he wants “explanations” about the “recurring outages” on the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) after the network was shut down early Wednesday morning due to “equipment failure on the track.” “I am concerned about the recurring outages of the REM and their consequences for users,” he wrote on social media, adding that he has “requested explanations from CDPQ Infra,” which is responsible for the planning, financing, completion and operation of the REM network. “(I) have made it clear that the situation is unacceptable,” Charette insisted. “I now expect the operator, Pulsar, to shed full light on the causes of these interruptions and on the measures that will be taken to prevent them from recurring.” The most recent incident happened at 5:30 a.m., when a service interruption occurred between the Gare Centrale and Brossard stations. Catherine Maurice, director of communications and customer experience at Pulsar, which operates the REM, explained during a press conference Wednesday afternoon that the issue followed maintenance work the night before. “There was maintenance done overnight on the signal system that impacted our ability to get the train out of the maintenance centre that prevented us from offering a complete service on the line,” she said. The stoppage eventually extended towards the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme stations before service resumed at 9:30 a.m. At 10:15 a.m., another outage, this time between the Panama and Gare Centrale stations, was announced due to “inspection required due to an external incident.” According to Maurice, a truck had collided with a piece of infrastructure at the entrance to the Gare Centrale station, prompting mandatory inspection of the area, including the rails. Service resumed an hour later. Maurice said the passenger information system, which informs riders of their train statuses, was also not working Wednesday morning because of the two incidents. “We have to get better on passenger information,” she said. “We’re very sorry for the inconvenience, and we are working to upgrade the reliability of the passenger information system.”
