Exo says it can no longer guarantee Montreal's suburban trains will arrive on time

Already frustrated commuters on the Deux-Montagnes and Mascouche rail lines are being warned to get used to the delays that have plagued their commute for the past several months.

Exo, the recently renamed transit authority that serves greater Montreal'snorthern and southern rings, said Wednesday that it could no longer guarantee trains on those lines will arrive on time because of construction work on the tracks for the REM, the futurelight-rail transit system.

Exosaid in a newsrelease that the transit authority itself, along withcommuters using its trains, are being "held hostage" by REM-related work.

"We do have to be honest," Caroline Julie Fortin, a spokesperson for the authority, told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

Back in April,Exooffered a 30 per cent discount on the purchase of a monthly pass for people inconvenienced by service disruptions earlier in the year.The compensation offer ended at the end of May.

The Metropolitan Regional Transit Authority, the ARTM, said in a statement Tuesday it is now looking into the possibility of offeringnew discountsto passengers on the Deux-Montagnesline because of the REM-relateddelays.

The REM track work has already forcedExoto cancel fourtrains on the Deux-Montanges lineand shift departure times on 23 trains.

• 4 weekday trains cut from Deux-Montagnes commuter service

"We gave ourselves a little bit of leeway but could not cancel more trains than we did," said Fortin.

Commuters frustrated

Leslie Murphy, a monthly passholder who rides the Deux-Montagnes line, said the experience in recent weeks has been"unbelievably frustrating."

"Last weekend I saw men getting off ... with their dress shirts soaked completely because apparently on one of the days the air conditioning wasn't working," said Murphy.

He said that his commute is delayed oftenby trains running behind schedule. Sometimes,once he's on board, the train simply sitson the tracks.

Murphy is also astounded that fares went up two per cent on July 1, despite these disruptions.

This is only the beginning of what will be a frustrating ride forDeux-Montagnescommuters for some time to come.

In 2020, a segment of theDeux-Montagnesline from DuRuisseauStation to CentralStation will be shut down for two years while the track is converted for the light-rail transit system.

Exoplans to shuttle commuters by bus.