The new REM (Réseau express métropolitain) light rail station at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport will have a striking signature iceberg design.
The station, one of the most complex on the 26-station, 67-kilometre network – the majority of which will be in service this spring – at 40 metres, will be the second deepest on the system, following the Édouard-Montpetit station in central Montreal.
Construction of the $600 million station, which is immediately opposite the airport’s departures and arrivals area, began in March 2022 and is now 80 per cent complete.
Still, that remaining 20 per cent will take another year-and-a-half to build with an expected opening in November 2027.
The station will be at the end of one of the REM’s four lines, with trains whisking airport passengers and workers from the suburban location to downtown Montreal in just over 20 minutes.
Currently the public has increasingly had to struggle to get to the airport through heavily congested surrounding highway traffic. A parking garage, being demolished and to be rebuilt, adds insult to injury.
The line will be the last REM segment to open.
Another unique aspect of the station is that unlike all the others on the REM, the airport administration, Aéroports de Montréal, oversees building it.
That’s because of the project’s distinct profile being in a “sensitive” footprint where aircraft and ancillary vehicles and airport operations had to continue during the construction period. As well, the REM station will be a “signature” landmark as part of the airport campus as an introduction to the city.
This footprint necessitated the station’s extreme depth so construction wouldn’t interfere with aircraft movements, taxiways and runways.
“That’s to make sure we have no disturbance on the ground level,” project director Steeve Bouffard said. “It was decided to go very deep in the rock, which was 35 metres depth.”
The train platforms descend a little further to 40 metres.
“That was one of the goals, to have seamless construction without any shutdown of operations,” he said. “And alternatively building around the airport would have cost more money.”
The excavation took out material the equivalent of 53 Olympic size swimming pools.
Another reason for the construction’s depth is the manner of excavation.
“We avoided using drill and blast, we used drill and mechanical rock-splitting,” he said.
Bouffard is a 30-year construction veteran who has worked largely in the mining and metals fields. But he also helped steer the massive $1.3 billion McGill University Health Centre near downtown Montreal, which was completed just over a decade ago.
At the airport station site, with no blast area, ground was broken at about one-and-a-half to two metres depth at a time. Excavation was completed in August 2023.
Since that time crews have been shoring up the open cut with rock anchors. There are 780 anchor bolts, 16 metres in length below the 40-metre base.
“It’s holding the station at the bottom, otherwise the (ground) water pressure would have effectively made it float,” Bouffard said.
When finished the station will have two sets of high-speed elevators for both platforms, rising or descending the equivalent of a 12-storey building.
The signature iceberg motif “was to reflect the Nordicity of Canada, Montreal also being a big city, we wanted to give a good experience for users,” Bouffard said. “When you get out on the platform you will see the iceberg from underneath.”
There will also be skylights adding to the natural and fresh ambience.
The iceberg itself is 30 metres in height.
“So, it will give a huge impression like you are in the middle of the sea looking up at this iceberg,” he said.
The overall colour scheme is black, white and gray.
The remaining work will comprise installing ancillary telecom, electrical, ventilation and finishes.
The two above-ground station floors also must be completed.
“Just finishing all the elements will take some time,” Bouffard said.
There also are numerous subcontractors working within a very confined space.
“That’s really a challenge for us but we are confident we can reach the goal for next year.”
The project has proceeded within budget.
Bouffard said he’s “very proud” to be part of the build.
“This is a really good signature for when you arrive in Montreal. As always, when you arrive in a new country the first element you see is the airport and the community surrounding it.”
At its peak there were 170 workers per day on the site.
The architect is Jodoin Lamarre Pratte Architectes/Saucier Perrotte Architectes and contactor Connect Cité (AECON and EBC).
