advertisement

---

Yesterday, representatives from the Canadian government, province of Quebec and Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (AMT) announced plans to jointly provide $119 million for the construction of the Lachine Maintenance Centre. The federal government will allocate $25 million; province, $62 million; and AMT, $32 million.

Construction is slated to start in 2012 and take 18 months to complete. The facility will be used to maintain AMT’s current and projected fleet of commuter trains, including scheduled maintenance, minor repairs and inspections.

The center is designed to accommodate 11 trainsets in an outdoor yard and one entire trainset in an indoor inspection shop. The facility will feature maintenance space for three locomotives and three double- decker cars, and an automated train-washing station.

Until recently, CN and Canadian Pacific provided AMT train parking and rolling stock maintenance services at their facilities. To optimize service reliability, the agency plans to open two maintenance centers in Quebec: one in Lachine on CP’s line and another in Pointe-Saint-Charles on CN’s line.

“In only fifteen years of operation, the commuter train network’s ridership has more than doubled. AMT accordingly has to plan for the maintenance of its commuter train fleet, which is on track for significant growth — from 217 units today to over 300 by 2015,” said AMT President Joël Gauthier in a prepared statement. “Commuter train reliability is largely contingent on the commissioning of maintenance centers.”