The ghost of former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, with his signature thick-rimmed black glasses, seems to be watching over the newest extension of the REM light-rail network. More than six decades after he first proposed converting the Deux-Montagnes commuter train line into a surface métro, his vision has finally become reality with the November 2025 opening of this critical transportation link.
The Visionary Beginning
Back in 1961, during the initial planning stages of Montreal's métro system, Jean Drapeau promised to purchase the Deux-Montagnes line from CN to create what was then known as the Red Line or Line 3 of the métro network. The plan called for running métro trains through the Mount Royal tunnel with a terminus in Cartierville. However, difficult negotiations with CN and surrounding suburbs forced the city to put these plans on hold indefinitely.
This abandoned vision explains why Montreal's métro system, which opened in 1966, consists of only four lines: Green (Line 1), Orange (Line 2), Yellow (Line 4), and Blue (Line 5). Drapeau never completely abandoned his dream, as evidenced by the deliberate space left within the Blue Line's Édouard Montpetit station during its construction in the 1980s. At Drapeau's insistence, workers included provisions for future elevators that would connect to the tracks below in the Mount Royal tunnel.
Decades of Renewed Efforts
Throughout the following decades, various politicians, planners, and environmental advocates revived versions of Drapeau's original concept. Pressure mounted during the 1980s and 1990s as the original trains and stations dating back to 1918 approached the end of their operational life. The Agence métropolitain de transport (AMT) ultimately chose electric commuter trains when modernizing the line in 1995.
Florence Junca-Adenot, the AMT's first president, revealed to The Gazette that her organization had proposed building an airport train following essentially the same route eventually chosen for the REM. Her concept involved branching out from the Deux-Montagnes Line's Bois-Franc station and utilizing an old industrial train line called the Doney Spur. This route would have run parallel to Highway 40 in the West Island, ultimately reaching the airport. Financial constraints prevented this project from moving forward, as the government had recently invested in modernizing the Deux-Montagnes Line.
The Doney Spur concept gained new life when the Green Coalition endorsed it in the early 2000s as an environmentally friendly way to connect to the Orange Line without disturbing the Bois-de-Liesse nature park. The idea even appeared in then-Mayor Gérald Tremblay's 2005 election platform, though it was excluded from the city's final 2007 transportation plan.
The Modern Realization
The project gained significant momentum when St-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa proposed converting the Deux-Montagnes Line into a surface métro. He enlisted McGill's School of Urban Planning, where students conducted a comprehensive study between September and December 2014 comparing four potential routes. The analysis determined that the northern line through more densely populated areas made greater economic sense than the alternative Turcot proposal.
Following the 2014 election of Philippe Couillard's government, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec received a mandate to plan and build an airport train that would also serve Montreal's West Island and include a connection across the new Champlain Bridge. Drawing on their experience with Vancouver's Canada Line—a driverless electric train on elevated tracks—the Caisse developed a similar model for Montreal.
DeSousa presented his route proposal to CDPQ-Infra officials, including former president Macky Tall and current president Jean-Marc Arbaud. Though he initially believed his suggestions had been ignored, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that the route selected by the Caisse closely resembled his proposal. The current REM configuration includes four stations in St-Laurent borough, with an additional station scheduled to open when the airport link completes in 2027.
The Caisse also revived the long-dormant Doney Spur concept, incorporating the abandoned link into the REM's A3 line to the Anse-à-l'Orme station in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. This third branch of the REM is scheduled to open next year, marking another chapter in the evolution of this transformative transportation project that began with one mayor's vision more than sixty years ago.
