Public transit troubles: Service interrupted on the REM and Metro's green line

Crowds of frustrated public transit users in Montreal were forced to find other options after the Green metro line and REM went down on Nov. 1, 2024. (CTV News)

Public transit users in Montreal are faced with service disruptions on two fronts on Friday as part of the REM and the green line on the Metro are shut down. 

Montreal's public transit authority says more than half of the green line is out of service for an "indefinite period."

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) said late Friday morning that service is disrupted between Angrignon and Berri-UQAM stations due to "water infiltration."

That stretch of the green line was out of service earlier on Friday for the same reason, but service was supposed to be back up and running by 11:30 a.m.

Now, the STM says it does not know when things will be back to normal.

Commuters are being asked to use the orange line to get downtown or use the bus as an alternative.

Weather causes REM outage

The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is also having issues for the second time in two days. Service between Panama and Central Station is disrupted due to strong winds, an official told CTV News.

"When the wind is having sustained gusts over 70 kilometres per hour we prefer to stop the REM. The gusts are even stronger on the Samuel-de-Champlain bridge. We want to protect our customers from the effects of the wind," said REM spokesperson Francis Labbé.

The REM's social media account said that the "Service resumption time is undetermined."

On Thursday, service was down on the light-rail line for roughly three hours after a system failure on two trains caused it to stop.

Some commuters were briefly stuck on the trains but were later brought back to Central Station.

With files from CTV Montreal's Kevin Gould