Near Champlain Bridge, trains were seen stopped on the tracks
The Réseau express métropolitain, Montreal’s newest public transportation system, had to stop service in both directions during its first rush hour on Monday. Passengers had to get off the trains, and the service’s emergency backup plan was put into action.
Shortly after 9 a.m., the REM posted on social media that service would be slowly getting back to normal.
On Friday, the REM’s southern branch, which goes from downtown Montreal to Brossard on the South Shore, opened for the first time.
The driverless trains stopped running just before 8 a.m., and a message told commuters that the delay was caused by a “technical problem.”
Near the Champlain Bridge, there were several trains that were stopped on the tracks.
Riders were told at the time that the delay would last for about 20 minutes.
After 15 minutes, service started to slowly start up again, but it looks like the problems were still not fixed because people got off the trains.
People could take shuttle buses from the Panama station on the South Shore to the Gare Centrale station in the city center.
Lacroix says that the trains will continue to run between Brossard, which is the southern end of the branch, and the Panama station, which is also on the South Shore.
He told Radio-Canada, “That’s to get people to the Panama station, where the back-up plan [with shuttle bus service] starts.”
During the weekend, when rides were free, tens of thousands of Montrealers tried out the new trains.
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