Montreal – Canada’s Minister of Transport and Quebec Lieutenant, Pablo Rodriguez, today announced an investment of up to $16.75 million for a project at the Port of Montréal under the National Trade Corridors Fund.
This project consists of adding a fourth track on the Pie-IX railway bridge and building a storage area. The rehabilitation of the railway bridge, including the fourth track, involves adding 500 metres into the railway network of the bridge.
The project will:
- preserve the long-term viability of the port’s container terminals;
- increase rail capacity to boost the port’s commercial value by more than $1 billion annually;
- reduce freight costs;
- generate labour savings and strengthen modal interconnectivity at the port site;
- ensure the safety of rail operations on the site; and
- help to reduce environmental impacts by using rail freight over trucking.
“This initiative will enhance safety, increase rail capacity, and reduce environmental impacts, underscoring our commitment to strategic infrastructure development and economic growth,” said Minister Rodriguez.
Julie Gascon, CEO of the Port of Montreal, commented: “The support of the federal government enables us to consolidate the intermodal platform that is the Port of Montreal, and to strengthen the resilience and rail connectivity of our facilities, to the benefit of all our users. This effort is in addition to those already undertaken by our teams and partners to optimize the rail network.”
“We are delighted with this investment by the Port of Montreal, which will support our plans to expand our sugar production capacity. This fourth lane will provide additional fluidity to enable us to serve our customers,” declared Mike Walton, President and CEO of Rogers Sugar and Lantic.
(Dreamstime photo of Pie IX bridge construction work)
