Drilling work

Drilling work / Tram planning phase

As part of the environmental and technical studies under the planning phase, the TramGO team will be doing some drilling along the tram’s circuit. The studies will consist of two components: a geotechnical study and a soil environmental characterization study.

Through lab analyses of samples collected in the field, the geotechnical study will help determine the nature of the soil and some of its physical properties, as well as those of the materials and rock found in the study area. That information is essential to designing the tram’s platform infrastructure.

The soil environmental characterization study will start at the same time as the geotechnical study to meet the requirements of the ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs (MELCCFP) environmental impact study. That study involves collecting soil samples for chemical analyses to determine their level of contaminants. It will help establish an optimized soil management strategy that complies with existing provincial regulations.

In the field, those studies may include the following activities:

• Restoration of the public roads
• Topographical measurements and soil markings
• Geotechnical drillings on the public roads along the tram’s circuit
• Collection of soil and rock samples

These field studies will be completed in the laboratory through geotechnical and chemical analyses of the samples, and by assessing the possibility of reusing the excavated materials.

The drilling work will take place over a five-month period, from the end of summer 2025 to the start of winter 2026 (estimated timeframe). No traffic obstructions are expected given that the work will be done outside of peak periods.