Region/Countries: Canada, North America Industry: Other Date: April 2016

Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Wisconsin firms can contribute to Canada's largest public infrastructure project.

The Reseau Électrique Métropolitain (REM) is a planned $5.5 billion light rail transit system that will stretch 67 kilometers across the greater Montreal area and connect with the city’s existing metro, rail lines and buses while running 20 hours a day, seven days a week. The REM project represents the largest public transportation infrastructure project in Canada since the Montreal metro was inaugurated in 1966, and will be the third-largest automated transportation system in the world, behind the Dubai Metro (80 km) and the Vancouver Skytrain (68 km).

This $5.5 billion infrastructure project will be Quebec’s first public-private partnership project. The federal and provincial governments will provide $2.5 billion, while CDPQ Infra, part of CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec), the second-largest pension fund in Canada, will commit $3 billion to this project.

The project is expected to help to relieve congestion on one of the busiest transit systems in the world, while also providing relief on the city’s heavily congested highways—congestion that is estimated to cost the economy $1.4 billion annually. The CDPQ is expected to issue requests for proposals by the fall of 2016, as construction on this project is expected to begin in the spring of 2017 with a completion date in late 2020 or early 2021.

For more information on this project, please visit: http://www.cdpqinfra.com/en