MONTREAL — Catenary work on the Réseau express metropolitain light rail project has been temporarily halted while authorities investigate a Monday incident involving a runaway piece of equipment involved in track construction.
The CBC reports a resident of a building overlooking Montreal’s Champlain Bridge captured video footage of the yellow maintenance vehicle rolling uncontrolled into the REM’s Nuns’ Island station, where it halted with a bang.
No one was injured, but significant damage resulted, and Quebec’s workplace health and safety organization, CNESST, has ordered the halt to catenary work on the 41.6-mile system while it investigates the incident, but other forms of work may continue.
NouvLR, the construction consortium building the project, told the CBC in a statement that the vehicle experienced a technical failure, leading it to move down the bridge to the station. “The vehicle was stopped by the protective measures installed on the rails specifically to ensure the health and safety of our workers in case of these unforeseen events,” the statement said. “Further investigation is ongoing to understand the cicrumstances of the incident.”
The project is being overseen by CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the province’s pension-fund manager, which is providing financing.
A CNESSET spokeswoman said work specifically relating to construction of the REM catenary system has been suspended and will remain halted until the agency receives a report on the investigation into Monday’s incident.
The REM project is already behind schedule. While portions were originally scheduled to begin operation in fall 2023, the system is now not projected to open until late 2024 [see “Opening of Montreal light rail system delayed,” Trains News Wire, June 21, 2022].
— Updated at 10:10 a.m. CDT to clarify that only work related to the catenary system has been halted, correct source of comment on incident, and update link to source article.
Shocking!