Saint-Laurent mayor pushing for extension to Metro's Orange line

Alan DeSousa, borough mayor of Saint-Laurent, is asking the provincial government to extend the Metro's Orange metro line so it could connect to the recently proposed light rail network.

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DeSousa wants the Orange line to extend two kilometres up to the Bois-Franc commuter train station, he wrote in a letter to Quebec Transportation Minister Jacques Daoust Friday.

DeSousa has long requested the Orange line be extended to better serve the borough, which includes a key industrial park near Montreal's Trudeau Airport.

He added that the light rail project proposed by Quebec's Caisse de dpt et placement is currently only slated to connect to one metro station, Gare Centrale, which experts and opposition politicians have also noted as a flaw in the ambitious plan.

For DeSousa, the extension wouldbring much needed public transit to the borough.

"We think a minimum transit option is necessary if we want to be competitive and not lose jobs at the expense of other regions," he said.

DeSousa denied the claim that an extension to the Orange line would be at the expense of the long-awaited extension to the Metro's Blue line.

The Saint-Laurent borough mayor did not indicate how much the extension would cost but pointed out that the STM alreadyplans toextend a portion of tunnel near the Cte-Vertu station as part of a$400 million underground garage for metrocars.