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Montréal is the major city in Québec, Canada, and has 1.8 million inhabitants (3.5 million in Greater Montreal). The city lies on Montreal Island in the Saint-Lawrence-River, and on the foot of Mont-Royal.

The 4-line system opened in 1966 is similar to the Métro of Marseille, Lyon or some lines in Paris as it is rubber-tyred and totally underground. One outstanding feature of the Montréal Métro are its transfer stations, especially Snowdon and Lionel-Groulx where passengers can change lines across the platforms, but also Berri-UQAM and Jean-Talon are well planned. Unfortunately there are not too many elevators.

On 14 Oct. 1966, lines 1 and 2, now generally referred to as the green line and the orange line, opened between Atwater and Papineau, and between Place-d'Armes and Henri-Bourassa. Some months later, Frontenac (19 Dec) and Beaudry stations (21 Dec) were added to line 1, and Square-Victoria (6 Feb 1967) and Bonaventure (13 Feb) completed the initial line 2. On 31 March 1967, line 4, now the yellow line opened as well, this is a shuttle service from the city centre to the other side of the river at Longueuil with one intermediate stop on St. Helen's Island, Jean-Drapeau.

Line 5, or the blue line, started operating in 1986 between De Castelnau and Saint-Michel, in 1988 it reached the orange line at Snowdon.

Eventually the eastern leg of the orange line was extended to the city of Laval (5.2 km) in 2007, with three new stations, Cartier, la Concorde and Montmorency.

Currently the network is 69.2 km long and has 68 stations (2007).

14 Oct 1966: (1) green Atwater - Papineau
14 Oct 1966: (2) orange Place-d'Armes - Henri-Bourassa
19 Dec 1966: (1) green Papineau - Frontenac
21 Dec 1966: (1) green Beaudry added
06 Feb 1967: (2) orange Place-d'Armes - Square-Victoria
13 Feb 1967: (2) orange Square-Victoria - Bonaventure
31 Mar 1967: (4) yellow Berri-UQAM - Longueuil
28 Apr 1967: (4) yellow Île-Sainte-Hélène (now Jean-Drapeau) added
06 Jun 1976: (1) green Frontenac - Honoré-Beaugrand
03 Sep 1978: (1) green Atwater - Angrignon
28 Apr 1980: (2) orange Bonaventure - Place-Saint-Henri
07 Sep 1981: (2) orange Place-Saint-Henri - Snowdon
04 Jan 1982: (2) orange Snowdon - Côte-Sainte-Catherine
29 Jun 1982: (2) orange Côte-Sainte-Catherine - Plamondon
09 Jan 1984: (2) orange Plamondon - Du Collège
16 Jun 1986: (5) blue De Castelnau - Saint-Michel
27 Oct 1986: (2) orange Du Collège - Côte-Vertu
15 Jun 1987: (5) blue De Castelnau - Parc
04 Jan 1988: (5) blue Parc - Snowdon
28 Mar 1988: (5) blue Acadie added

28 Apr 2007: (2) orange Henri-Bourassa - Montmorency

 Projects

A 6.2 km extension on the blue Line to the northeast with six stations has been planned for a long time. Further plans include extending the yellow Line to Roland-Therrien (4 stations). Apart from these metro extensions, also the commuter rail network is being developed and some light rail corridors are considered.

Photos 2002 © Matt McLauchlin

Benoît Clairoux: LE MÉTRO DE MONTRÉAL 35 ANS DÉJÀ
Montréal, Éditions Hurtubise HMH, 2001, 160 p.
ISBN: 2-89428-526-4

One of the best metro books published recently tells us the full story of the Montreal Metro, with lots of great colour photographs, many historical maps and other interesting items. Even if you can't read French this book is a must for every metro fan.

More details on author's site

- OPERATION

The Montréal Métro operates from 5:30 until 1:00, with a 3-5 min. interval during rush hours and 7-10 min. during the rest of the day.

- FARES (2008, in Canadian dollars)

Single fare - 2.75
6-trips - 12.00

Weekly Pass - 19.25

1-Day Pass - 9.00
3-Day Pass - 17.00

STM (Subway Operator - Official Page) incl. Map (32K)
You can click there on each station to see specific information, photograph and an area map

AMT (Agence Métropolitaine de Transport) incl. Laval Extension project description

Montreal Metro at Wikipedia

Marc Dufour's Métro Page has everything you haven't found on this page

Matthew McLauchlin's great Montreal Metro site

Montreal Metro Photos Great Site by Julien Rosselet

Montréal Metro Gallery by Michael Rohde

Benoit Clairoux' Montréal Métro book

Le Métro de Montréal by Guillaume Blouin

Montréal Subway Map laid over GoogleMap

Photos © Michal Murawa; See more pictures at www.nycsubway.org