Light-rail project fails to get green light from Quebec's environmental review agency

The proposed light-rail project, which would link downtown Montreal with the South Shore and West Island, is incomplete and requires a more in-depth review before getting the green light, according to Quebec's environmental review agency (BAPE).

That report,prepared by the BAPE after a series of public hearings last summer, was releasedlate Friday afternoon.

In the 296-page report,theBAPE said it has several concerns with the project, whichwould connect 24 stations stretching from the South Shore to Montreal's Trudeau airport and beyond, to both the West Island and Laval.

Among them, it saysthat the documentation for the project is incomplete, and "several essential elements of the project were not subject to public debate and unable to be analyzed."

Increase Orange line congestion?

The report also raises concerns about further congesting the STM Metro system.

It says, for instance, that many commuters from Deux-Montagnes, Que., on Montreal's North Shore, would opt to get off the AMT train and connect via the Orange Metro line at Sauv, rather than take the light rail train.

"Currently, the Eastbranch of the Orange line is already operating at maximum capacity and not able to take on more passengers," the report says.

Will commuters leave cars at home?

It also questionsthe level of service the LRTwould be able to offer and whether it would actually be able to meet a key goal of gettingmorepeople to switch to public transit.

"Based on our forecasts, barely 10 per cent of light rail network ridership would come from drivers who would leave their cars behind, and most of those would taketheir cars to the station parking lots."

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Another concern the BAPE had was the project's impact on the environment. It said it was impossible to evaluate becausea complete portrait of the natural habitats that would be affectedalong the planned route is missing.

Financial questions remain

The agency is also calling on the provincial government to release certain financial documents and said more information is needed to understandhow the project will be financed.

Quebec's pension fund, the Caisse de dpt et placement du Qubec, is funding the project and has committed $3 billion to building the 67-kilometre light-rail transit system (LRT). The balance, about $2.9 billion, is expected to come from the federal and provincial governments.

"This project has so many flaws on so many levels," saidLisaMintz, founder ofTrainsparenceand board member of theGreen Coalition."It's bad for green spaces. It's not good for transportation. There's no financial documents."

"I mean, how can a bank say that they don't have the financial documents to back up a huge project of $6 billion?" Mintz asked.

"The Green Coalition has been asking for a train for years and years and years. We need more public transit, that's obvious. But this is not a good system."

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Project will go ahead, leaders say

TheBAPE'sdecision is not final. The province could choose to move forward with the LRTdespite the agency's concerns.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said the LRT, which is being hailed as the biggest infrastructure project since the Metro was built, is "the most important project in the last 50 years."

"I'll see the report, but in the end, we need [it]and we will make it happen," said Coderre.

Plans for the LRT call for at least part of the system to be up and running by2020.

QuebecTransport Minister Laurent Lessard said thatwill happen.

"The BAPE did its job. It had recommendations and even criticisms. We will take our time to analyse it, but it is a project that will go ahead," he said.

"It's a big project,and we will run into pitfalls, that's normal. But the eyes of the government are looking ahead, and we will realize this project with la Caissededpt."