MONTREAL - The sun is setting on the eastern train, for now, at least.
The Train de l'est, planned to help bring commuters into town from the northeastern suburbs, has been derailed by officials as they determine how and why it has rolled so far out of budgetary control.
The Repentigny-Mascouche line, slated to span 51 kilometres of track with 14 stations, is now expected to see the light of day in the fall of 2013 at the earliest.
That is because the $360 million project has risen to $665 million.
The head of the AMT says that the lower figure was of the ballpark variety and is not surprised that it has risen by $200 million.
"The budget, the $390 million, was a preliminary estimate," said Joel Gauthier, President of the AMT.
However Treasury Board President Michelle Courchesne is not ready to sign a blank cheque and has stalled the project until she receives a report detailing the reasons for the overruns.
A decision will be made after the report is submitted in December.
"We want to know in advance how much it's going to cost," said Courchesne. "If there are some risks cost-wise, then be able to make the right decisions on the ground and be able and make sure that we have no further surprises."
Some randomly chosen train users agreed that the project should be put on hold.
"If it's going to be 200 million dollars over budget, they can't go ahead with it," said Linda Smith. "We've got infrastructures that are crumbling. They have to fix that first."
"Where are we going to get the other money?" asked Kim High, another train rider. "We don't have enough doctors, the hospitals are in bad shape, roads are terrible. I think the government's got to look at the bigger picture."
