2023-08-01 08:10:00
The beginnings of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) were closely watched by opponents of the Quebec tramway project.
The problems encountered on the very first day served them well. These first failures in Montreal resonated as far as Quebec, where opponents of the tramway were salivating at the setbacks.
In the middle of rush hour on Monday, a breakdown interrupted service for more than an hour, leaving many users forced to fall back on shuttle buses. Still in the running-in period, the automated light rail was struggling with a switch problem.
In anti-tramway groups, newspaper articles reporting the temporary shutdown of the REM followed.
With them, a series of comments linking them to the Quebec project, also to be built by the French manufacturer Alstom.
“The Alstom magic continues”, “it is an Alstom project, after all”, “imagine the tramway in Quebec”, “can we trust Alstom and Mayor Marchand? “Wrote some in particular.
With “this morning’s outage, there is cause for concern. It feeds skepticism, it increases doubt, ”say the spokespersons for the group Quebec deserves better, Donald Charette and Doris Chabot. As they have been calling for months, “decision makers [de Québec] should let off the throttle and maybe put on the brakes. Good and fast, sometimes things don’t go together.
These criticisms of the REM are in addition to those that Ottawa’s light rail has suffered since 2019, while its recurring stops give ammunition to detractors. Out of service since July 17, the O-Train was to gradually return to the tracks on Monday, but its return has been postponed to an indefinite date to allow teams to continue checking rolling stock of the same range as that chosen for Quebec. .
Already, the promoters of the capital’s tramway have had to defend it after the repeated failures of the O-Train, mainly attributable to “issues of governance and planning”, they rejected. Like the tramway project office, the supplier swears that the Quebec experience will be different.
Knowing that it “will benefit from feedback from previous deliveries of projects around the world and in Canada”, Alstom says it is “confident in the success of the Quebec tramway project”, reiterated a spokesperson in a written statement to the Sun.
A new thorn in the side for Marchand?
Could the REM, like the O-Train, become a kind of burden for the mayor of Quebec?
One thing is certain, his team will have to be “ready” to answer questions, says Philippe Dubois, assistant professor of public and political communication at the National School of Public Administration (ÉNAP).
“Bruno Marchand finds himself in the somewhat uncomfortable position where each time something somewhat comparable to the Quebec project goes wrong elsewhere, we will make the comparison, whether it is true or not. »
— Philippe Dubois, assistant professor in public and political communication at the National School of Public Administration (ÉNAP)
“People who are opposed to the tram project will take this news. He has a bit of a confirmation bias, it confirms their preconceptions about the project and for them, it becomes an argument that the Quebec project does not hold water, ”he analyzes.
Although the argument could also be taken up by defenders of the tramway, wanting Montreal to be always better served by public transport, the expert considers that the “unfavorable signals” linked to the REM “add to a certain concern or a certain cynicism that ‘a significant part of the population of Quebec has with regard to this project’.
As promoter of the tramway, the mayor will have to be able to “reassure” the population, adds Mr. Dubois. Especially in a context where the candidacy of Martine Ouellet – fierce opponent of the tramway – in the by-election in Jean-Talon risks frying the mayor’s line of communication, he said. “And maybe even the whole fryer. »
In the middle of summer, the news is less abundant and a message unfavorable to the tramway could percolate.
“Are we going to add fuel to the fire by responding to people who, in any case, will never be convinced of the merits of the project? It is a calculation that must be made. »
— Philippe Dubois, assistant professor in public and political communication at the National School of Public Administration (ÉNAP)
A political “balancing game” will be set in motion. “There is clearly a double calculation to be made: that of the mayor’s position where it is necessary to intervene as promoter of the project to reframe the discourse and that to avoid giving too much importance to a counter-speech which could become something if we answer it, ”weighs Philippe Dubois.
The town hall cabinet had “no comments” to make on Monday.
Projects that are difficult to compare
The tramway project office, for its part, responded to the Sun’s request by asserting that the three projects are difficult to compare and calling for “caution” in drawing parallels between them.
Claiming to have studied “carefully” the pitfalls experienced in Ottawa to learn from them, the Project Office promises to have taken “the necessary measures […] in order to avoid the same difficulties.
“The Quebec tramway project will be the fourth Canadian project to put rolling stock from the Citadis Spirit range into operation and, in this sense, we are reassured that the product will meet our standards,” said spokesperson Miriam Bard- Dumont.
However, “just like the REM”, the Quebec tramway project is not immune to glitches, she adds.
In a virtually identical response, Alstom and the Project Office agree that “even with robust construction and a rigorous trial period, adjustments are quite usual and expected during the first months of operation. No public transport project of this type escapes it: it is nothing abnormal, ”we are assured.
1690889014
#REM #mocked #antitramways #Quebec