Public transit troubles: Service interrupted on Metro's green line, REM back to normal

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

Service on the REM has now been restored. 

As for the Metro, Montreal's public transit authority says more than half of the green line is out of service for an "indefinite period" and will not return by the end of Friday. 

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 for nearly an hour-and-a-half 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.

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)

A water main leak near the Lionel-Groulx station was the source of the water leakage, according to STM spokesperson Amélie Régis. There are tiles on the ceiling in the station to prevent water from leaking in but they did not hold, she said.

"We have to pump the water on the tracks. As you know, the metal runs on the electricity, so water and electricity do not mix well. So we have to pump the water completely before resuming service," Régis said.

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

Wind gusts causes REM outage

The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) also had issues for the second time in two days. Service between Panama and Central Station was disrupted for about two hours 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 service was restored just before 2 p.m.

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 and Laurence Brisson Dubreuil