Quebec investing up to $15M to study public transit projects, including Montreal's Pink line

Quebec's Transport Ministry will invest up to $15 million to study a number of public transit projects in the Montreal area, including the Pink Line, a passion project for Mayor ValriePlante,which would run from the city's north end to the southwest.

Plante was all smiles as Transport Minister Andr Fortinmade the announcement outside Longueuil metro station Wednesday.

• 'Pink line has to be part of the plans,' Valrie Plante says

"You can imagine how happy I am to be talking to you about the Pink line," Plante told reporters, laughing.

Up until now, provincial government officials, including Premier Philippe Couillard, had refused to make any promises related to the Pink line project.

Fortin did not provide a specific time frame for when the studies would start or becompleted.

However, thegoal is tostart work on the approved projects after Montreal's light-rail network (REM) is completed and once work to extend the STM's blue line is well underway, he said.

Thirty to 40 per cent of the REM is expected to be completed by 2021, while Couillard said earlier this year that theblue line would be done by 2026.

Orange, Yellow line extensions alsoto be studied

The other projects being studied include an extensionof the Metro'sOrange line to Saint-Laurent and deeper into Laval, as well asan extensionof theYellow line past Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore.

Other projects that will be examined include:

• A Mascouche train line.
• A possible extension of the rapid bus transit lane on Pie-IX Boulevard.
• A rapid bus transit lane on Notre-Dame Street, toward downtown.
• A new, public transit system on Taschereau Boulevard in Longueuil.

Last year, Quebec's transport ministry gave the regional transportation authority (ARTM)the task of coordinating the work of the different transit agencies around Montreal.

What projects gain approval, and whenconstruction will begin, depends on the results of the respective studies,Plantesaid.

She said she was excited about a possible extension of the Orange line, which she described as the "backbone" of the city's Metro network.

Pink line proposed to go from Montreal North to Lachine

In response to questions from reporters, Fortinsaid studying the Pink linecould result in a new version of the project that differsfrom Projet Montral's original proposal.

The plan a key part of Plante'smayoralcampaign was to build a 29-kilometre line from Montreal North to Lachine.

The promise to build the Pink line has been compared to the Blue line extension, an idea which was first floated in 1979 but has yet to materialize.

Plantesaid things have changed, however.

"Now, it's not so much about the opposition of building roads versus building Metrosand different types of public transport," she said after the press conference."We're in a place nowwhere people can see both and want to have both."