Installation of telecommunications cabinets in Griffintown

Last updated October 11, 2022
Reading time: 2 min

Have you noticed black metal cabinets appearing on sidewalks in Griffintown? Those are telecommunications cabinets, installed to house cable connection points for telecom providers. Learn more about their purpose and where they will be installed.

Cabinets needed to bury cables

Eventually, all above-ground electrical wires, telecommunication cables and poles will be removed from Griffintown. To allow telecom providers (like Bell and Vidéotron) to connect to all the buildings, Montréal’s Commission des services électriques (CSEM) must locate both cable connections and telecommunications equipment in cabinets. As for the electrical wires, they’ll be housed in underground conduits surrounded by concrete (“duct banks”), laid under the sidewalks.

Telecommunications cabinet located on Rue Eleanor, between Rues William and Ottawa
  • Déploiement de cabinets de télécommunication dans Griffintown

Different layout for Rue Eleanor

Ville de Montréal
Permanent street design integrating the telecommunications cabinets
  • Aménagement permanent de la rue intégrant un cabinet de télécommunication

Rue Eleanor has a different design and will be upgraded when the city is ready to construct permanent improvements with wider sidewalks, covered with concrete pavers. 

The other cabinets will be installed on sidewalks, in continuity with the trees, as shown in this image.

Greening 

Planting greenery near telecommunication cabinets will take place only after the street is officially completed with permanent materials. Eventually, the cabinets will be aligned with the planting pits.

Choice of firms

Several solutions to allow connections to the cables were studied. With limited space available in the area, cabinets are the only feasible solution.

The size of the cabinets is based on the equipment and fibre optic cables required to serve area residents.

Next steps for cable burial

It’s difficult to provide an exact timeline, given the complexity of the burial process and unforeseen events. Burial takes place in one area at a time. It’s reasonable to expect it will take a decade to complete the entire neighbourhood.

Before removing overhead wires, cables and poles, several steps are necessary:

  1. Construction of the electrical network under the roadway and sidewalks (conduits, access shafts, transformer rooms, etc.) 
  2. Installation of telecommunications cabinets
  3. Installation of electrical and telecommunications equipment and wires in the underground network and in the cabinets
  4. Transfer of connections supplied by the overhead network to the underground network. Clients may need to do electrical work in their building. If so, they will be informed individually in a letter sent by the Commission des services électriques de Montréal
  5. Powering up the underground network and cutting off the power supply to the overhead network when both networks are operational at the same time
  6. Removal of wires, lighting fixtures, electrical and telecommunications equipment from poles
  7. Removal of poles.

Quick search