L’ouverture de l’antenne Deux-Montagnes, c’est aujourd’hui! Bienvenue à tous les usagers et usagères qui découvrent leurs 14 nouvelles stations. Les équipes du REM seront sur place toute la fin de semaine pour vous accueillir. Pour tous les détails du programme inaugural: rem.info/fr/evenement...

Nice detail in #Montréal’s Edouard-Montpetit REM station: natural rock walls. The platforms are 73 metres below the street—height of a 20 storey building. The rock is gabbro, a very hard igneous rock. 100,000 kg of explosives were used to build the station.

Ok, who had on their bingo card MJT becoming a woke transit, healthcare defending, social justice warrior against human trafficking?

Cost per km of REM is $134M (Canadian! That's $96M US) Other transit projects in US and Canada are closer to $1B / km.

Trump take air travel. So even MJT have to take train. "Far-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was on Amtrak Crescent traveling from DCto her home state, and she was enchanted. “The sweetest people run the train,” she posted. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Top speed of #Montreal’s REM is 110 km/h, though it won’t exceed 100 km/h on the line that opened today.

It has made the map.

This is brilliant.

REM will eventually link Montreal Trudeau Airport (airport branch circle) with downtown Montreal in 2027.

New rail line drop: REM Deux-Montagnes line (light green on this map) from Gare Centrale, 33km of new light Metro in Montreal.

You can get from downtown Montreal to this view in about 20 minutes. Now crossing the Rivière-des-Prairies on a southbound REM.

It gets downright picturesque between Pierrefonds and Île-Bigras. I’m going to enjoy bringing my bike and exploring this part of the city.

Here we are entering the Tunnel Mont-Royal (southbound). At 5 km, the 3rd longest in Canada. Built by Canadian Northern in WWI, taken over by CN. Discovery of hundred year old explosives delayed construction a bit…

Here’s the front-end view of the new REM line to Deux-Montagnes in #Montréal. Between Côte-de- Liesse and Montpellier. A very smooth ride so far…

You take an elevator or stairs down from street level to a bank of 5 elevators. The station is 72 m underground, deepest in Canada. The elevator ride down takes just 20 seconds—but it’s fast. My ears popped…

Very open design. Deep station, but it feels light and airy—like the Elizabeth Line platforms in central #London.

I love that new #transit smell! Getting a press tour of #Montréal’s new REM line this morning. Starting at Edouard-Montpetit station. A clean, light, modern édicule (entry kiosk). And there’s parking for my bicycle… 🧵

Nine years ago, I had my first conversations with Lemay Architects about teaming to design Montréal’s ambitious new REM network. Today, they opened the *second* line to Deux-Montagnes. Congrats!

Five minute headways this morning. I can definitely live with that!

According to the operations manager, the latest snowfall (20 cm) didn’t hold up operations. He claims they’ve overcome their teething problems—before the points (switching on tracks) were freezing, but they have a new gas-powered system to heat them when it’s cold/icy.

Interior is open, with large windows. So much less claustrophobia-inducing then the metro. Hard to get a good shot of the exterior when you’re on board!

You can get from downtown Montreal to this view in about 20 minutes. Now crossing the Rivière-des-Prairies on a southbound REM.

Here’s the front-end view of the new REM line to Deux-Montagnes in #Montréal. Between Côte-de- Liesse and Montpellier. A very smooth ride so far…

Et a partir de la fete des patriotes /Victoria Day 2026, bikes allowed on board. fine way to get to/from bikes trails... 🧵 rem.info/fr/se-deplac...

Here’s the front-end view of the new REM line to Deux-Montagnes in #Montréal today, it’s public opening day. Between Côte-de- Liesse and Montpellier. A very smooth ride so far…

Here’s the front-end view of the new REM line to Deux-Montagnes in #Montréal. Between Côte-de- Liesse and Montpellier. A very smooth ride so far…

I love that new #transit smell! Getting a press tour of #Montréal’s new REM line this morning. Starting at Edouard-Montpetit station. A clean, light, modern édicule (entry kiosk). And there’s parking for my bicycle… 🧵

Front-end view of the snowy first-day of service of the REM line to Deux-Montagnes. #Montréal ‘s elevated automated light metro adds 14 stations this week. I’ll be getting a sneak-peek tomorrow. (This video from my man on the scene. Thanks, Dan!)

Now Trump take children. "Seven in 10 respondents said raising children is too expensive, a notable jump from 2024" www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Terracotta Army vibes here. China has long wanted a compliant population and has hit on the ruse of cutting out the middlemen (and women).

Love these! But nothing beats some proper bollards to separate that bike lane.

Meanwhile, in #Egypt: New high-speed trains unveiled. Will run on 3 lines, with top speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph). Morocco already has a high-speed network; Nigeria is building one. (To Be Filed Under: We Can't Have Nice Things Here...Because Why?) www.cnn.com/travel/egypt...

Front-end view of the snowy first-day of service of the REM line to Deux-Montagnes. #Montréal ‘s elevated automated light metro adds 14 stations this week. I’ll be getting a sneak-peek tomorrow. (This video from my man on the scene. Thanks, Dan!)

...but it often fails to deliver. Especially when it comes to safety. The Brightline in Florida is the most deadly rail line in North America. I take a look at the pros and cons of for-profit passenger rail in this HIGH SPEED dispatch: www.highspeed.blog/a-ride-on-fl...

Brightline has been touted as future of rail in North America. Latest reports show frequency in #Florida has been drastically reduced—to commuter rail levels. And costs of Las Vegas to LA line (Brightline West) have ballooned from $12.5B to $21B. For-profit rail promises a lot... 🧵

I make the case that Mamdani's going to need a new slogan in this HIGH SPEED dispatch: www.highspeed.blog/fast-and-free/

Fast and free? 🐌 Mamdani's got his work cut out for him. Awards announced for this year's slowest #NYC buses. "Pokey" goes to the M42 (avg 5 mph). "Schleppie" goes to Q8 (avg 3 minute late per stop). 🧵 www.nbcnewyork.com/traffic/tran...

Brightline has been touted as future of rail in North America. Latest reports show frequency in #Florida has been drastically reduced—to commuter rail levels. And costs of Las Vegas to LA line (Brightline West) have ballooned from $12.5B to $21B. For-profit rail promises a lot... 🧵

A problem people in a lot of cities in North America dream of having! #Brussels’ Pedestrian Zone Is So Crowded It's Restricting Bikes www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Fast and free? 🐌 Mamdani's got his work cut out for him. Awards announced for this year's slowest #NYC buses. "Pokey" goes to the M42 (avg 5 mph). "Schleppie" goes to Q8 (avg 3 minute late per stop). 🧵 www.nbcnewyork.com/traffic/tran...

#Canada grows much of the hard durum wheat that’s shipped to #Italy to make pasta. We’d be happy to hook you up…unfortunately, Trump slapped tariffs on everything we produce, too.

I literally bought extra pasta the other day in anticipation of this. I’ll be slowly creating a hoard of pasta to get us through winter. And this is just to say - like every single other thing that’s happening right now - it’s so stupid and it was entirely preventable.

"Why is it so hard to fix Penn Station?" Because it was broken from the start, NYTimes. NYC tore down greatness, and replaced it with a hot mess. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

@meidastouch.com For the pro-population increase Republicans, the answer to increased births is more housing. @jenrubin.bsky.social @pkrugman.bsky.social @davidfrum.bsky.social @economist.com @reuters.com @zackpolanski.bsky.social @mollyjongfast.bsky.social @governor.ca.gov @jbpritzker.bsky.social

NEW STUDY: Why's the birthrate so damn low? It's because the rent is too damn high! Bombshell U. of #Toronto study identifies rising housing costs as the the primary driver of falling fertility rates. www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

The Pasta Underground. Shape: Tubetti.

Waiting for the surplus to inundate the Canadian market and make pasta prices drop here. And then making a lucrative business out of smuggling pasta from Montréal to New York on the Adirondack.

VIA Rail will be hosting an event in Vancouver to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the "Canadian" train service. It's free but registration is required. corpo.viarail.ca/en/event/van...

Trump take spaghett' too. www.wsj.com/world/europe...

The "When Was Britain's First Railway?" timeline updated, new version .. click for the download! geofftech.co.uk/downloads/Fi...