This crane is helping REM workers build the new light rail more quickly and quietly

Delivery of the new, $6.3 billion light rail transit system is rapidly approaching andcrews are using a new construction method they say is more effective and less messy than pouring concrete.

The horizontal craneis called a launching gantry.

Two cranes will build an elevated platform of about 13.5 kilometres all the way to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.

REM workers said thesystem is better for people living near the sites.

"This is a way to reduce the impact on the environment, on the people around," said Stefan Balan, the director of the Sainte-Anne-de-BellevueAirport line.

The long beam carries prefabricated concrete segments, each weighingabout 50 tonnes.

Workers lock the pieces into place to build the track bed, and the machine slides back to tackle the next span.

Watch: The horizontal crane being used to build the elevated REM platforms.

New REM construction method

5 years ago

Duration 0:20

Launching gantry used to build elevated REM platform.

It's the first time the system's being used in Quebec.The machine can finish one 40-metre span in about two days,

The slabs are made in a factory near Drummondville.