Subway of Montreal

The Métro of Montreal was inaugurated on October 14th, 1966 in Quebec, during the municipal mandate of the mayor Jean Drapeau. With its inauguration, the network included/understood only 26 stations distributed out of three lines. There are today 68 stations out of four lines, which serve the center and is island of Montreal. A station serves the town of Longueuil. Three new stations, serving the town of Laval, are takings up the duties on April 28th, 2007 in Quebec.

History

Long childbirth

The construction of the Subway of Montreal began in May 1962. But the project dated since good longer. Indeed, the Québécois Métropole is a city in strong expansion at the beginning of the 20th century. The population has almost triplet between 1899 and 1913 and it is the economic metropolis of the Canada. The city which until the middle of the 19th century revolved around the historical center close to the port, had extended in new sectors towards north and is. People remaining in these districts mainly came to work with the downtown area. The Tramway S, which carry out the majority of transport, are overflowed and circulation slows down them enormously.

As of 1910, several private groups suggest the construction of a underground Railroad to regulate the problem. The Central Montreal Final Co. wants to dig a tunnel under the river to connect the downtown area to the cities, in blossoming, of southern bank of the St. Lawrence. The Montreal Underground and Elevated Railway Co. wants to build a partly underground and partly elevated subway. But it is the Montreal Street Railway Co. (or Montreal Tram Co. ), the principal company private of transport of the city, which receives the approval of the provincial government. One gives him four years to raise the funds and to begin the project.

Had with reserves of the elected officials, and opposition of other railroad companies, the first attempt fails. Then, the First World War channels energies. It is followed of a recession which strikes the city hard and one thus misses funds for the project. The gradual return of the financial health during the Années 1920 brings back the project. It is almost implemented in 1930 but the Black Thursday of 1929 and the Grande depression will destroy these hopes. The trams are replaced by buses but no subway is put in building site. It is necessary to await the election of the mayor Jean Drapeau for finally seeing the end of the tunnel. In this beginning of the Années 1960, everyone Western is in an economic boom and the Quebec knew its “Quiet revolution”. As of the 1960, several municipal services consider the project and the November 3rd 1961, the Municipal council of Montreal votes appropriations rising to 132 million dollars to build and equip an initial network with 16 Kilomètre S length.

Construction

This plan re-uses several of the former studies and envisages four lines dug in the rock under the downtown area towards the most populated sectors city. The principal line, or number 1 (green line), must pass between the two more important commercial arteries, that is to say the Rue Holy-Catherine and the Rue Sherbrooke, more or less under the Boulevard of Maisonneuve. It must extend between the anglophone west, at the Atwater station, and is French-speaking with that of Frontenac. Line 2 (orange line) will pass from the north of the city, starting from the Henri-Bourassa station, and will go down towards the center from the businesses to the Bonaventure station. The construction of these two lines thus begins in May 1962 under the supervision from Lucien To combine It, the father of the subway , and finished in October 1966. The service is inaugurated gradually as the stations are available.

A line number 3 is planned. It was to borrow the way of railroad of the Canadian National which leaves the downtown area and passes under the Mount-Royal to reach the north-western suburbs of Cartierville. Contrary to the two preceding lines, it was to be partly on the surface. The negotiations with the CN trampled at the same time that Montreal was selected in November 1962 to hold the World Fair Expo 67. Having to make a choice, the city decided to be attacked in priority with the line number 4 (yellow) which must connect Montreal to the suburbs of southern bank according to a plan similar to that of 1910.

The administration requires of these last which will be interested and it is Longueuil which obtained the bond. This line will thus pass from the station Berri-of-Montigny, junction point of the lines one and two, with that of Longueuil. One adds a stop to the site of Expo 67 , built on two islands of the Archipel of Hochelaga in the river. It is finished just in time for the opening of the exposure in April 1967 to Quebec. Interesting fact, the station is on the Sainte-Hélène which massively was increased and consolidated with several neighbouring islands (of which the Ronde island), using the embankment excavated during the construction of the subway. The other island, Notre-Dame, were built from zero with same material.

The line three was never built but the forever re-used number. Indeed, the railway line was already used for a Suburban train towards northern bank of the river with Two-Mountains. It was entirely remade at the beginning of the Années 1990 and became semi-officially the line envisaged. The built following line will thus carry number 5 (blue line).

Prolongation

In 1970, the Urban community of Montreal (CUM) is created. It is about a regrouping of the municipalities which occupy the island of Montreal and whose city is the largest participant. The raison d'être of the CUM is to provide certain services standardized at the regional level and one of those is transport. The Commission of Transport of the CUM is thus created at the same time. It amalgamates all the transport companies of the island and will become in 1985, the Shipping company of the urban community of Montreal (STCUM). It will be the project superintendent of the prolongations of the subway which will not be limited any more to the only territory of the Town of Montreal of this time.

The success of the Subway increases the pressures to lengthen the network towards other populeux sectors, of which suburbs of the ïle of Montreal. After obtaining the Olympic Games of summer of 1976, one begins the extension from the green line (line 1) in 1971 towards the east to reach the site where the Stade and until the Autoroute would be built 25 (Honore-Beaugrand station) which could be used as point of arriving transfer of the visitors of outside. The whole is supplemented in June 1976. The line is wide later towards south-west to join the suburbs of Verdun and Ville LaSalle with like terminus the Angrignon station, with the zoo of the same name. This station opens in September 1978.

The government of Quebec issues moratory in 1974 with the expansion any azimuth which wanted the Drapeau mayor, because of the costs. The moratorium leaves only the possibility that modest prolongations of lines 1 and 2. A tactic used by the Office of transport of Montreal, at the instigation of the mayor, to circumvent the moratorium is to take the money planned for some of the stations and to dig the tunnel beyond the built stations. Thereafter, the government is put in front of the fact achieves and a request for supplement for the construction of the additional stations is made quoting that one already most of the work in fact.

The line two (orange) is thus gradually extended towards the west to Place-Saint-Henri (1980) then turns towards north to join Coast-Virtue in November 1986 in Quebec. As the stations are supplemented, the service extends to it. This line now takes the form of “U” which connects the north of the island to the downtown area, serving two very populeux axes. The blue line number 5 is the following addition. It crosses the center of the island of Montreal by connecting the western branch of line 2 (Snowdon station) to its branch is (station Jean-Heel) then continuous towards the east to the Saint-Michel station. The first stations of this line are open in 1986 (of Castelnau to Saint-Michel). It is supplemented in 1988.

As from this moment, the subway of Montreal is the second in importance in Canada after that of Toronto. But the plans do not stop there. The orange line (number 2) was supposed to comprise three other stations towards north (Deguire/Poirier, Wood-Franc and Salaberry) in order to join the northern limit of the island. But the funds for this project were put in the construction of the blue line (number 5). The latter was to be also prolonged more in the west (towards Coast-Saint-Luc, Cavendish, Montreal-West and Lafleur) and in the east (Magpie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire, Langelier and Galeries of Anjou). Two other lines, the 7-white line (proposed in 1983), which had is to cross the part is island along the boulevard Pie IX, and line 6 was to be a subway of surface skirting northern bank of the island (proposed in 1984) are also put out of night light. The arrival of the Années 1990 is marked by an important deficit in public finances everywhere in Canada, and in particular in Quebec, as well as an economic recession. This cuts the funds to these projects.

Subway towards Laval

Future

The plans of prolongations of the various lines are again given of before since this opening.

To serve its territory, the town of Montreal proposes to prolong the blue line towards the east until the district of Anjou, and the orange Ligne towards the North-West in the St. Lawrence district towards the station of suburban train Wood-Franc. Besides in May 2007 in Quebec, she proposes an integrated plan of transport, which would add tram lines to it.

The metropolitan Agence of transport proposes on its side the prolongation of the Yellow line on southern bank, by adding four new stations under the town of Longueuil. She moreover studied one prolongation of this same line towards the downtown area of Montreal, like adding a line connecting the station Lionel-Groulx on the island of Montreal to the town of Brossard, while passing by the Island of the Sisters and crossing the St. Lawrence river at the level of the Champlain bridge.

The mayor of the town of Laval, to trust of the success of custom of the three new stations on his territory, asked summer 2007 that the orange Ligne is buckled, at the same time adding three stations moreover to Laval and three in Montreal.

Newspapers and blogists of the west of the island of Montreal require as for them that this part of the island is served by the subway, going until requiring that at the same time the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International airport of Montreal be connected to the remainder of the city, thus offering a fast bond between this one and downtown area.

Lastly, it was question in 2007 in the newspapers of the district of Lasalle which one adds one or two stations in the west of the station Angrignon.

The appropriations necessary to all these projects are raised and no financing was authorized until now

Underground lines

The lines of the subway of Montreal are identified mainly by their color, but can also the being by their number or their stations terminus. The direction is always identified by the station terminus towards which the train moves. For example: orange line direction Coast-Virtue.

The lines are the following ones:

Notes:

With regard to the orange line, since Coast-Virtue, the trains have two termini: Henri-Bourassa or Montmorency, according to what is indicated to the head of the train. Thus, only the trains having as termini Montmorency serve the stations of Laval (Cartier, Of the Harmony and Montmorency), the other trains stop with Henri-Bourassa . In the opposite direction, certain trains leave the station Montmorency and others of Henri-Bourassa . Moreover in the morning two trains with the special departure of Henri-Bourassa have like terminus Montmorency . The station Henri-Bourassa is of this fact the only station of the orange line where all the trains of this line forward.

It there forever have line 3. It was about a project of installation of an old line of the Canadian National, nonunderground (except the crossing of the Mount-Royal tunnel, a 5 kilometers length), which was abandoned with the profit of the yellow line to allow an easy access to the island Sainte-Hélène at the time of the Expo 67.

Tariffing

The subway, just like the service of bus in Montreal, is used by the Shipping company of Montreal (STM). The tariffs of the subway and the buses are completely integrated, a ticket giving right a complete displacement, whatever the means used or the number of correspondences (within the 90 minutes limit). The transport documents are presented in various forms: magnetized tickets, weekly and monthly charts magnetized, bus connections in the form of perforated charts, to present to the reader integrated in the swivels of access, or tickets with cheap rate not magnetized to present to the changer. The children, the schoolboys and students the 25 year old and full-time which resides on the island of Montreal are entitled to a cheap rate, as well as the 65 year old people and more.

The system is with barriers fixed; the swivel swallows the ticket, which makes impossible any subsequent control. Any person beyond the swivels is famous being in rule. The only way of catching the resquilleurs is to catch them in the act. However, from here a few years, it is envisaged to completely change the system of perception which would allow possibly control in tariffed zone.

The tariffs are also partially integrated with those of the suburban trains of the metropolitan Agence of transport (chart TRAM in particular). The five intermodal stations of Bonaventure, Lucien-To combine, Vendôme, Of the Harmony (all four on the orange line) and Parc (blue line) allow a correspondence between the subway and the suburban trains.

Design

Certain choices of design are explained by the winter climatic conditions montréalaises, the costs and the influence of its promoter the mayor Jean Drapeau.

Choice of system

There exist two ways of building an underground subway: to trench along the layout which one will cover with a roof or to dig at a certain distance from surface with specialized equipment. The first solution is less expensive and was used in several subways throughout the world like those of Paris and New York. It however has the disadvantage of requiring a complete closing of the zone dug and of demolishing any obstacle along this one. Like one digs in a zone densément populated and in general along an existing street, one is likely to largely disturb the life and the economy of the city.

The mayor Jean Drapeau did not want that the construction of the subway disturbs at this Montreal point and the engineers of the city chose in-depth digging while following the rock. The basement of the island east made of gray rather easily creusable but robust limestone with compression. They are thus materials ideal for a tunnel. In order to reduce the costs, one chose a car smaller and less broad than the average what makes it possible to have more pronounced curves. Moreover, one used subway trains on tire which can go up and go down from the slopes steeper than those on rail. These two characteristics make it possible to follow the best veins of rock, to minimize the distance to be dug and to be able to make pass the two ways in only one tunnel.

The subway of Montreal entirely underground east thus and the first in the world to use only the technology of tyred subway. Its system, similar to that of the Subway of Paris, was developed in collaboration with the engineers of the RATP and the company Michelin. It is to note that evacuated spoil was used to build the Île Notre-Dame and to increase the Île Grey waxbill to hold the World Fair to with it 1967.

Technical informations

The system of subway on tires was developed in the Années 1930 by the firm Michelin but it is in the Années 1950 that the subway of Paris adopted an alternative of it. The subway of Montreal uses this same system. One finds two traditional rails on each side of which one has a track of bearing for the tires. Finally, one has two food and vertical guide rails. The tires ensure the traction and the support of the load whereas wheels in steel, parallels on the Bogie, are there in the event of puncture. Guidance is done by the horizontal casters which are pressed on the vertical guides. These same guides are also transmitting electric current collected by floats. The current leaves the train by a float in contact with the lower rails.

One of very first works to be installed in the subway was a gift of the company Steinberg. It is about the canopy of the station Place-of-Arts, created by Frederic Back. It was inaugurated in 1967, more than one year after the opening of the subway. The company Vickers Canada which built them does not exist any more and the spare parts are machined by the personnel of maintenance of the STM or by Québécois subcontractors, for example avoid-break it are made by a company of the area of the Beauce.

Good number of Québécois artists started their career in the undergrounds of the subway of Montreal: Garou, Manual Gasse, Nedjim Bouizzoul, Erik Mongrain, Philippe Mius D' Entremont, Smoothed Turgeon, etc Certains media organize contests each year to unearth the rare pearl among the musicians. With beginning of the year 80, the artists have create their associations, the AMIM: Association of the musicians independent of the subway (of Montreal).

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