Blue Line (Montreal Metro)

The Blue Line (french: Ligne bleue) is one of the four lines of the Montreal Metro in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the fourth to be built, notwithstanding its alternate official name of "Line 5" ( Line 3 was planned, but never built). Unlike the other three routes, the Blue Line does not serve the city's main Metro junction at Berri-UQAM.

The line is served by a single yard located between Parc and de Castelnau stations which is completely underground and occupies a small portion underneath Jarry Park. Another service facility is located at the 500-metre end tracks following Snowdon station, but is rarely used by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).

History

Construction of Snowdon station began in 1975, with two platform levels. In 1979, the provincial government decided to build the Blue Line. On 16 June 1986 the first section opened, between Saint-Michel to De Castelnau.

That was followed by the section from De Castelnau to Parc on 15 June 1987 and Parc to Snowdon on 4 January 1988. The opening of the intermediate station Acadie was delayed for almost three months and occurred on 28 March 1988. Other planned extensions at both ends of the route have so far been omitted for financial reasons.

Proposed extensions

The former ''Agence métropolitaine de transport'' (AMT, now ARTM) published a study, ''Vision 2020'', in December 2011. According to it, the Blue Line will be extended northeast of Saint-Michel to Anjou. There were a total of five planned new stations: Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire, Langelier and Anjou. The terminus would be located at the Galeries d'Anjou shopping centre, near the junction of Autoroute 25 and Autoroute 40. On 20 September 2013, a 7-km extension northeast to St. Leonard and Anjou was announced by the STM and the Quebec government. The provincial government announced that the extension would proceed and committed $38.8 million to set up a "Project Office" tasked with preparing detailed financial and technical plans within two years. The start of construction start was slated for 2021, with completion in 2025. On 28 May 2014, it was announced that the project would be reviewed by the new provincial government and that if the project was accepted again, construction would start in 2021, which was confirmed by the STM's new 2025 Plan. , STM's preliminary schedule shows that construction could begin in 2021, enabling the new section to open in 2027. Federal funding is expected to cover 40% of the cost.

Another proposed expansion involves extending the Blue Line southwest from Snowdon, which would serve Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Côte-Saint-Luc, and Montreal West. That Metro extension has been put on hold indefinitely.

The Édouard-Montpetit station is near the northern entrance of the Mount Royal Tunnel. Plans to link the station to the AMT's Deux-Montagnes line were not pursued because the difference in height between the two levels is 50 m. In April 2016, the interchange received renewed interest as part of the proposed Réseau express métropolitain, which will replace the Deux-Montagnes line with rapid transit.

Future extension

The proposed Metro Blue Line extension to St. Leonard and Anjou was announced in September 2013 but was not pursued because of the defeat of the Parti Québécois government in 2014. However, on 9 April 2018, it was announced that both the provincial and the federal governments had made a final commitment to fund and complete the extension. The work is slated to begin in 2023 and to be completed in 2029.

Rolling stock

Since 1986, Blue Line trains are made up of MR-73 cars. Each train consists of two segments of three cars, shorter than the Green, Orange, and Yellow Line trains, which all comprise three segments of three cars, for a total of nine cars. Some nine-car MR-73 trains were transferred from the Orange to the Blue Line, but these had to be shortened to six-car configurations.

List of stations

See also

* Green Line
* Orange Line
* Yellow Line
* Red Line (Line 3)
* List of Montreal Metro stations

References

External links

2008 STM System Map

{{Montreal Metro navbox

Rapid transit lines in Canada