Metro stations, businesses still closed as Montreal tunnel tested
Sun Aug 26, 2:30 PM
MONTREAL (CBC) - It's not clear whether a number of stores, offices and Métro stations in downtown Montreal will reopen by Monday, city officials said Sunday afternoon, two days after cracks in a tunnel forced the closures.
A seven-block perimeter of downtown Montreal was cordoned off, buildings were evacuated and part of a subway line was closed on Friday, after two fissures were spotted in a tunnel that linked the McGill Métro station to the landmark Bay department store and malls.
By Sunday, people had been allowed back in to some of the area, but much of it remained closed and the Métro's Green line was still shut down between the Berri-UQAM and Lionel-Groulx stations.
At a news conference Sunday afternoon, city officials wouldn't say exactly what people should expect at the start of the workweek. They told reporters they are hopeful things would be back to normal, but that more tests were needed.
Mayor Gérard Tremblay said crews had been working non-stop to install about 1,000 posts to reinforce a cracked, sagging concrete slab under de Maisonneuve Boulevard. By Sunday afternoon, crews had installed about 80 per cent of the posts.
Tremblay said that once all of the posts are installed, the work must be tested and approved by engineers to ensure the 1,000-tonne structure is secure before the district reopens.
"If ever it is not secured the way we are securing it now, it could fall," he said. "If it ever fell, then it could go through the floor of the Bay and have an impact on the Métro."
The engineers will also have to do test-runs of Métro trains, measuring the vibrations with a seismograph, Tremblay said.
Tremblay said that, apart from safety, his top priority is to reopen the downtown portion of the Métro that has been out of service all weekend - six stations along the Green line.
Problems were first spotted around 1:30 p.m. ET Friday, when employees working in the basement of the landmark Bay department store on Maisonneuve Boulevard noticed water leaking from the ceiling, which had dropped a few centimetres.
The Bay and the Promenades Cathédrale underground shopping mall were among several areas that were evacuated.
People in the area say workers hoping to gain access to their offices to retrieve items will be frustrated if their buildings are still closed on Monday. Commuters, on the other hand, have options, and the transit slowdown likely won't paralyze the city.
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