The city has worked out the technical difficulties and bumped the cost of the new Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) light rail transit project up by $400 million dollars to add 3 stops to the proposed route.
The stops at McGill College, Peel Basin, and Edouard-Montpetit would streamline the greater Montreal transit system by connecting the light rail train to the metro at the orange, green, and blue lines.
The adjusted cost will be $5.9 billion and hinges on the federal and provincial funding that has not yet been secured.
$3.1 billion dollars has been pledged by the Caisse du depot et placement du Quebec, CEO Michael Sabia says they're working on good faith that the Trudeau government can see the value in furthering creative public transit in Montreal.
"One of the reasons why we're here today is we've solved the technical issues. We think these connections to the metro are important in terms of better positioning the REM and better serving the needs of Montrealers, and obviously we're pretty confident about the financing of it."
Transport Minister Laurence Lessard says the provincial funding will depend on federal commitment, which must be settled by the winter of 2017 for construction to start on time for the system to be up and running by 2020.
The electric train will offer transit access to the airport from downtown, Laval, the south shore, and with the 3 additional stops - Point St Charles, Griffintown and Nun's Island will be linked to the metro system underground.
The REM will be run privately by the Caisse, in partnership with the government and Sabia is convinced they can turn a profit and keep fares affordable by maximizing ridership.
"If we weren't persuaded that we could earn a commercial return that would respond to the needs of our depositors, in other words the people of Quebec, and their retirement needs, we wouldn't be here," he said.
The federal and provincial governments have about 4 months to commit to funding the remaining 2.8 billion needed for the project to move forward.