Welcome to the Montreal metro: a brief photographic expedition

[Kilgore Trout]

considering how many photos i've taken of montreal over the past number of years, i have surprisingly few of the metro. i'm down there riding the blue subway trains everyday but, because the system is entirely underground and the lighting is generally quite poor, taking photos can be a frustrating experience.

still, i'll share what i've got with a bit of exposition along the way.

montreal's metro opened in 1966, just in time for the 1967 world's fair. ambitious expansion projects in the 1970s and 80s left it with four lines spanning 64 kilometres and 65 stations. unfortunately, 1988 marked the last time a new metro station opened: the 1990s were a time of recession and stagnating public infrastructure. the system was virtually falling apart by the end of the decade.

luckily, increased maintenance has enabled the trains --- on one of the lines, we're still using the originals from 1966 -- to perform well. an ill-advised, 5.2-kilometre extension to the off-island suburb of laval will add another three stations to the network. the fare system will be overhauled by 2008 with smart cards. in 2011, montreal's oldest subway cars will finally be replaced.

so that's that. let's take a brief tour, shall we?

many of montreal's metro entrances were built as stand-alone kiosks, often with an integrated bus loop. (downtown and in a handful of other cases, they are integrated into larger buildings.) this annoys me to no end because these kiosks seem quite pointless --- storefront entrances or a simple hole in the ground would have worked better and been less disruptive to the streetscape.

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you pass through the turnstile with one of these...

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and then down you go.

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while heading down one of the metro's interminable series of escalators, or one of its interminable corridors, you might pass a busker. my favourites include an old chinese guy who plays the accordion with gusto, a sitar-player and this guy, the triflutist.

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bring your own chair if you want a seat while you wait for a train. frequencies range from 2 minutes at rush hour to 10 minutes in the late evening.

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sooner or later, the train will come...

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time to pack on.

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sometimes the metro just makes you so depressed.

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other times, not so much.

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inevitably, you will reach your destination, alight and head for the exit.

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before leaving you must push through one of these heavy butterfly doors. when two metro trains leave a station at the same time, it creates so much suction that opening a regular door requires 75 pounds of force.

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[micro]

Nice photos! Thanks for showing them! You have captured many of the passengers, which is a good thing and reflects much of the atmosphere in the metro.

This summer I've also made some photos but my approach was to focus on station architecture, so I rather avoided passengers. They are here: http://mic-ro.com/metro/montreal.html

[roner]

who are those doors calling twat?!?

[SunMonTueWedThuFriSa]

Hooray for selective photos of different colored people sitting near each other to overrepresent a city's diversity. :tup:

[LostInTheZone]

I like the postwar metros I've seen (DC, San Francisco) much better than the prewar ones (Philly, NYC), at least when it comes to the underground parts. The stations are a lot more spacious and the air isn't as foul.

[Keith P.]

In both your pics and Micro's I see stairways. Are the platforms accessible in some instances only by stairs or are there always escalators as well?

Those pictures by Micro at the link he posted make it look very interesting. Nice to see some emphasis on design and art.

[bayrider]

who are those doors calling twat?!?

LOL That's the Atwater station with the A and er rubbed off.

Hey KT, why is the Laval expansion ill-advised?

[MonkeyRonin]

Place Des Arts is easily the nicest station, great photos too. On a diffrent note, any idea on what the new trains are or will look like?

[Kilgore Trout]

Hooray for selective photos of different colored people sitting near each other to overrepresent a city's diversity.

have you ever taken the montreal metro? i'd like to know how i've "overrepresented" montreal's diversity.

[Kilgore Trout]

In both your pics and Micro's I see stairways. Are the platforms accessible in some instances only by stairs or are there always escalators as well?

only a few stations have escalators from the platform to the main part of the station (they all have escalators to the street, however). it's a huge shortcoming and the STM is eventually going to retrofit the stations with elevators. for now, the three new stations that open in the spring will have elevators and escalators will be added to four major stations in the existing network.

[WHY-T]

only a few stations have escalators from the platform to the main part of the station (they all have escalators to the street, however). it's a huge shortcoming and the STM is eventually going to retrofit the stations with elevators. for now, the three new stations that open in the spring will have elevators and escalators will be added to four major stations in the existing network.
It is indeed sometimes troublesome for normal people to reach the platforms with many stairs and corridors. I just have to wonder how and where is STM going to install elevators in some stations that have really tight space.

[Kilgore Trout]

they probably won't install elevators in every station... i just don't think there is a need, since wheelchair users can use the parallel bus lines or paratransit. i think the biggest users of elevators would be the elderly, people with strollers (and there are a lot of people with strollers on the metro), people with luggage, etc.

[oshkeoto]

"have you ever taken the montreal metro? i'd like to know how i've "overrepresented" montreal's diversity."

Yeah, as a non-Montrealer who lived in Montreal for about a year, I'll testify to the absolute accuracy of Kilgore's photos. That city has a level of racial harmony we're not used to here in the States.

[OhioGuy]

Ah, rail photos! My favorite type of photo thread on this forum. Thanks. :)

[Mikey711MN]

Well assembled, man! Love the photo tours with narrative, particularly entertaining ones. I've never been to Montreal, but hopefully one day!

[J Church]

Interesting point about the kiosks, Chris. Are most of the plazas that large?

[giovanni sasso]

HOORAY FOR RUBBER TIRES!

[JManc]

the only time i was on the MTL metro...the trains sat there for something like a half hour while the transit cops and MTL cops searched for some guy with a gun. fun times.

[J Church]

Santori times?

[miketoronto]

Great photos.

The Montreal METRO is a good system. Only complaint I have about the Montreal Metro is service levels. The train frequency just sucks even at rush hour. Other then that things are great.

[Daquan13]

Great pics!!

At least those trains look a whole lot more stylish and modern than the MBTA's old rotted-out dilapidated ones on the Blue Line!!

[Kilgore Trout]

Interesting point about the kiosks, Chris. Are most of the plazas that large?

not typically. in fact, i think that plaza was a vacant lot until 1999 when it was landscaped. there is abundant bicycle parking, seating, open space used for performances and vendors in the summer and a seasonal 24hr fruit and veg market (in the winter it becomes a christmas tree depot and in the spring a maple products stand). it's one of the nicest, liveliest squares in montreal.

mont-royal's anithesis is saint-laurent, which not only has a 1960s-era "temporary" kiosk, it sits in the middle of a large vacant lot that is part asphalt, part gravel. 40 years and nothing has been done...

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most other stand-alone kiosks have only a small plaza. a good example is beaudry station in the village:

http://www.metrodemontreal.com/green/beaudry/kiosk.jpg

and here is the only metro entrance that is integrated into the street (it is an authentic guimard work given to montreal by paris):

http://www.emdx.org/rail/metro/Images/QC-STM-Victoria_20030922-112345-EntourageGuimardVueDeDevant.jpg


The Montreal METRO is a good system. Only complaint I have about the Montreal Metro is service levels. The train frequency just sucks even at rush hour. Other then that things are great.


mike, the trains come every 2-3 minutes at rush hour. what more do you want?

[Kilgore Trout]

At least those trains look a whole lot more stylish and modern than the MBTA's old rotted-out dilapidated ones on the Blue Line!!

that's kind of sad, since the blue line's rolling stock is ten years younger than the oldest of montreal's trains.

of course, no transit agency seems to be as capable of running things into the ground maintenance-wise than the MBTA.

[Daquan13]

that's kind of sad, since the blue line's rolling stock is ten years younger than the oldest of montreal's trains.

of course, no transit agency seems to be as capable of running things into the ground maintenance-wise than the MBTA.



Yes, you're right, it IS sad!!

All they seem to care about is getting those damn Charlie machines installed at every subway station, buses and trollys.

Those trains on the Blue Line are now the oldest ones in the entire system!!:hell:

[J Church]

mont-royal's anithesis is saint-laurent

Holy god! Is that in Montreal? I was starting to think the place was immune to that kind of crap (of course, may have just been your photos).

[champdemars]

mont-royal's anithesis is saint-laurent

Holy god! Is that in Montreal? I was starting to think the place was immune to that kind of crap (of course, may have just been your photos).

The UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) is supposed to build a campus on top of this plaza, replacing at the same time the entrance of the St-Laurent Station.

[Kilgore Trout]

we'll see about that --- UQAM is scaling back their other real estate ventures. before this current plan, the st-laurent metro site was slated to become the jewish museum.

Holy god! Is that in Montreal? I was starting to think the place was immune to that kind of crap (of course, may have just been your photos).

montreal was a lot harder hit by the vagaries of postwar modernism than toronto or vancouver. not only was the area around st-laurent metro devastated --- the former red light district, most of it was bulldozed in the 1960s for a housing project --- but an entire neighbourhood was cleared, boston-west-end-style, for the maison radio-canada office complex, which is a single tower surrounded by acres and acres of unnecessary parking.

[J Church]

This I've heard. I was just taken aback to see the front door of a Metro station so neglected. And honestly I'm still a bit perplexed to see such a prime location so bleak even in an urban renewal zone. I'm not as familiar with the West End, but I know the neighborhoods that were leveled here and in other cities I'm familiar with have been fully rebuilt by this point, albeit in lifeless fashion.

[kool maudit]

it's basically inside montreal's biggest housing project.

[Kilgore Trout]

honestly, i'm not really sure why so little has been done with that area. montreal is a pretty conservative city in terms of development --- things get proposed, scaled back, cancelled. i'm sure there have been a large number of things slated for this particular site but for whatever reason they just did not come to pass.

what makes st-laurent all the more perplexing is the station opened in 1966 and most other stations saw at least a modest amount of transit oriented development --- atwater station, the original western terminus, has a big mall, office and residential complex on top of it.

i think the panorama i posted might exaggerate the size of the lot. the housing project itself is entirely complete --- it's all playgrounds and parks between the buildings, as usual --- and beyond the autobody shop across the street from the metro, there aren't actually any other vacant lots nearby.

[Wheelingman04]

I really enjoyed the subway in Montreal when I was there a few years back. It was clean and pretty fast. It is one of my favorite mass transit systems.

[graupner]

Hooray for selective photos of different colored people sitting near each other to overrepresent a city's diversity. :tup:

Hoorray for cool stupid comments !!

[miketoronto]

Your pics are great. But one thing they don't allow you to do is hear the really cool sound the METRO trains make when they take off from a station. I think it is the rubber tires that make the sound. But click on this link, and listen to the sound the train makes when it leaves the station. Its cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTwWzQSc0oI

And also lets not forget the really nice automated voice and screens on the trains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLCum7JKjF0

[micro]

But note there's no sound that warns of the closing doors!

[WHY-T]

Your pics are great. But one thing they don't allow you to do is hear the really cool sound the METRO trains make when they take off from a station. I think it is the rubber tires that make the sound. But click on this link, and listen to the sound the train makes when it leaves the station. Its cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTwWzQSc0oI

The sound it makes when a train departs is the sound of the electric motor, not the tires.

[Minato Ku]

Lyon metro really likes at Montreal

4 lines
Rubber tired
automated voice
700,000 passenger per day a little less than Montreal metro
Rubber tired train

From Wikipedia-Lines A (Perrache - Laurent Bonnevay) and B (Charpennes - Part-Dieu) were constructed using the cut-and-cover method, and went into service on May 2, 1978. Trains on both lines run on tyres rather than steel wheels.
-Line B was extended to Jean Macé on September 9, 1981, then to Gerland on September 4, 2000. A further extension to Oullins is expected to open in 2013.
An extension to Vaulx-en-Velin La Soie on Line A is expected to open in September 2007.
-Line C
The Croix-Rousse-Croix-Paquet rack railway, which was refurbished in 1974, was integrated into the Metro in 1978 as line C, running from (Hôtel-de-Ville to Croix-Rousse). It was extended to Cuire on December 8, 1984.
The line was constructed using various methods; the incline rising through a deep tunnel, the portion on the flat at Croix-Rousse using cut-and-cover, while the section beyond Hénon runs on the surface. The Croix Paquet station claims to be the steepest metro station in Europe, with an incline of 17%.
-Line D
Line D commenced operation under human control on September 4, 1991 between Gorge-de-Loup and Grange-Blanche. Rubber-tyred trains run automatically with no driver on board, controlled by a system known as MAGGALY (Métro Automatique à Grand Gabarit de l’Agglomération Lyonnaise). The line was extended to Gare de Vénissieux on December 11, 1992, at which time it switched to automatic operation. On April 28, 1997, it was extended again to Gare de Vaise.

Being the deepest of the lines in Lyon, it was constructed mainly using boring machines and passes under both rivers, the Rhône and the Saône. At 13 km (8.12 mi) long, it is also the longest of the lines in Lyon.


From wikipedia
The Montreal Metro is also the inspiration for the Lyon (France) Metro, constructed a few years later, which shares the same rubber-wheel car design and Montreal Metro station architecture.

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3884/metrofy8.jpg
http://www.lyon-en-lignes.org/images/stories/metro/metro3/image002.jpg
http://www.lyon-en-lignes.org/images/stories/metro/metro2/image002.jpg
http://www.lyon-en-lignes.org/Phototheque/albums/userpics/10011/normal_2005.11.03%20%20Gerland%20002.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL5c-CHNSEw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRVyshkmzo

[MolsonExport]

Your pics are great. But one thing they don't allow you to do is hear the really cool sound the METRO trains make when they take off from a station. I think it is the rubber tires that make the sound. But click on this link, and listen to the sound the train makes when it leaves the station. Its cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTwWzQSc0oI

And also lets not forget the really nice automated voice and screens on the trains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLCum7JKjF0

The electric dynamos are responsible for the musical 'scale' sound of the Metro when it takes off.

[MolsonExport]

Place Des Arts is easily the nicest station, great photos too. On a diffrent note, any idea on what the new trains are or will look like?


My favourite always has been the Bonaventure Station. Deep underground, with soaring dungeon-like ceilings. Extremely cool.

[MolsonExport]

Hooray for selective photos of different colored people sitting near each other to overrepresent a city's diversity. :tup:

Only a complete ignoramus would make such a statement.

[West_aust]

The electric dynamos are responsible for the musical 'scale' sound of the Metro when it takes off.

a distinctive thing that will unfortunatly disapear with the next generation of metro trains when they will change them

[champdemars]

a distinctive thing that will unfortunatly disapear with the next generation of metro trains when they will change them

It is so distinctive for Montreal that some have raised the idea to emulate it into new trains (in 2010)

[MonkeyRonin]

My favourite always has been the Bonaventure Station. Deep underground, with soaring dungeon-like ceilings. Extremely cool.

Yeah, I just looked that up, pretty cool.

It is so distinctive for Montreal that some have raised the idea to emulate it into new trains (in 2010)

I'd want to keep it too, if I lived in Montreal. That'd be like getting rid of Toronto's do-doo-dooo sound :(

[micro]

Musical sounds during acceleration are somewhat similar in Montréal and Genoa:

f1cFrh-Qzp4 W8zs0u5EohI

[WHY-T]

Is it known who will be potentially making the replacement trains? Has STM began looking at that?

[Grumpy]

Is it me or am I wrong but the MTL underground looks always full of life like the streets above.
Also the stations look well designed and are clean.

[West_aust]

Is it known who will be potentially making the replacement trains? Has STM began looking at that?

Bombardier have been awarded the contract without any bidding process, so unless they can't deliver something that will suit the STM at a reasonable price, they will be building the next gen trains

[SFUVancouver]

Hooray for selective photos of different colored people sitting near each other to overrepresent a city's diversity. :tup:

Welcome to Canada. Our major cities really are that diverse and those photos are highly representative. In both Vancouver and Toronto there is no ethnic majority and the plurality of inhabitants are foreign born. I read once that there are only three cities in the world without an ethnic majority; Miami, Toronto, and Vancouver.