The Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT), the government agency responsible for planning, coordinating, integrating and promoting public transit service in the metropolitan Montréal area, hired AECOM to conduct cost-benefit analyses of four infrastructure improvement projects on three commuter train lines: Montréal / Dorion-Rigaud, Montréal / Blainville-Saint-Jérôme, and Montréal / Delson-Candiac.
These four projects, listed below, are part of the AMT’s 2010-2012 triennial capital expenditure program:
- Rail Infrastructure Rehabilitation on the Westmount Subdivision (Ref. 1200-5002);
- Rail Signalling and Infrastructure improvements on the Vaudreuil Subdivision (Ref. 1200-5004);
- Capacity Expansion Project on the Blainville-Saint-Jérôme line (Ref. 1300-5003);
- Rail Infrastructure Improvement on the Adirondack-Lacolle Subdivisions (Ref. 1500-8001).
These projects aim to improve commuter rail service reliability, as well as expand capacity on each of the three lines. The analyses enabled the identification, quantification and monetization of the following elements:
- Project capital costs;
- Capacity expansion operating costs
- Value of time travel savings by transport mode
- Value of service quality improvements
- Social costs of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from commuter trains and automobiles
- Social costs of road accidents
- Revenues generated by commuter train capacity expansion
- Economic value of avoided parking costs
- Residual value of investments