MONTREAL—Commuters who rely on Montreal’s regional trains have the same complaints: Not enough service or departures. Those along the Blainville-St-Jerome line have the added complaints that the last train leaves downtown at 6:45 p.m. on weekdays and doesn’t run at all on weekends.
That’s all about to change.
On Monday morning, the president of the AMT announced an additional six trains daily would be added to the line, helping ease overcrowding during rush hour. A train to St-Jerome will also be added on weekends.
Starting Aug. 5, the line will see two additional trains in the morning and evening, as well as an 11 p.m. train for late workers. The additional service will help shuttle commuters back-and-forth between Montreal and the burgeoning communities in Laval and the Lower Laurentians.
Flanked by Quebec’s Transport Minister, the head of the AMT also responded to questions about the current service to the West Island and recent reliability issues on the Candiac line.
According to the commuter agency, West Island train service is limited by capacity on CP tracks. New service won’t be added until the agency can plan around the upcoming construction of a new Turcot Interchange, a decade-long job that is expected to disrupt all transit on the East-West corridor.
Answering recent issues with the service to Candiac, the agency pointed its finger at CP.
“There have been some problems in the last week,” said AMT president Nicolas Girard. “We sent a letter to CP because we think the service isn’t acceptable, they have a responsibility. I said to CP, ‘Enough is enough.’ I think they need to offer us better services; we signed a contract with them.”
