Dozens of Réseau express métropolitain (REM) passengers were trapped in carriages for more than two hours while train service between downtown Montreal and Brossard was canceled during rush hour on Monday. A computer failure is the cause.
Published at 6:15 p.m.
Marie-Ève Martel The Canadian Press
On Monday around 3:45 p.m. the REM announced the service stop on X.
According to information that CDPQ Infra, operator of the REM, emailed to La Presse Canadienne earlier in the evening, “technical problems with the computer system lead to problems and errors in the control center,” but “a recovery plan facilitation (was) in place “around 5:05 p.m.
“At that time, four trains stopped between the stations,” it is said.
The service had already been suspended earlier in the day due to the same problem, the fix of which failed to resolve the situation, Philippe Batani, vice president of public affairs at CDPQ Infra, confirmed in a telephone interview.
“We are still in the running-in phase, but this is a problem we have encountered for the first time today,” he explained.
“Ultimately, this issue became more significant and forced us to completely shut down the system so we could make corrections,” he added, noting that “small slowdowns” were observed throughout the day.
It wasn’t until around 6:30 p.m. that the trains were finally able to gradually resume their journey.
Lack of communication criticized
Several users, some of whom have been stuck on the train for more than half an hour, complained about the lack of follow-up information, while CDPQ Infra had not published any information on social networks or the REM website since the service shutdown was announced.
“Let’s get out.” We’ve been stuck inside for 20 minutes,” one user replied to the post.
“We’re stuck… in a car full of people… between the GC station and IdesS…” said another passenger on the same platform.
Users regretted that the announcement of the glitch was not passed on in the subway stations, which led to several passengers congregating at the main station, among other places, instead of choosing alternative routes for their journey.
“The journey between the main station and L’Île-des-Sœurs took about 1 hour and 15 minutes,” a passenger trapped in a carriage told The Canadian Press. We just received a message that repeated every few minutes stating that the service was unavailable for a period of time due to a technical issue. »
Mr Batani acknowledges that the communication problem needs to be improved.
“We take notes. We have been told that the way information is communicated to users during disruptions needs to be improved, he said. It is something that is at the top of our (priority) list. »
In the event of service interruptions, the REM provides buses to passengers.
Planned service disruptions have been announced by CDPQ Infra starting October 15th. These disruptions, scheduled from Sunday to Thursday after 10pm, are expected to extend over a period of six weeks.
Another breakdown occurred on Friday afternoon, during rush hour.