News   Mar 28, 2024
 201     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 303     1 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 673     0 

Visited Montreal for the first time. Some questions about their Metro system

Personally I find the new AZUR trains to be quite pleasing to the eye, despite not having AC. I've taken the newer U-Bahn trains in Berlin, which also didn't have any ACs and got by just fine in Berlin's hot and humid summers. ACs are nice but I think most Montrealers frankly don't care. The best virtue of the Metro is that all stations are heated properly in the winter when it's consistently -20 outside - probably far more useful to most commuters than having AC cars in the summer.

I also don't understand Toronto's obsession with toilets in subway stations (I read multiple articles on Toronto Star about the lack of toilets on TTC and found the obsession bordering absurd) - what percentage of riders actively seek out bathrooms when taking public transit?

Azur are nice but they are cramped and tiny compared to Toronto Rockets.
 
Azur are nice but they are cramped and tiny compared to Toronto Rockets.

Toronto Rockets are huge by North American standards. I've only been able to find similarly-sized cars in some Asian/Chinese cities with much higher ridership and network.

I wouldn't call them tiny. Cramped yes, during peak hours. During off hours, they are quite pleasant to ride. The ride also tends to be more smooth than what I experienced on TTC - perhaps due to rubber tires and/or ATC. Most riders are able to stand in the middle of each AZUR car without the need to hold onto any sort handhold for support due to the general stability of the ride.
 
Biking downtown is a fantastic idea. The main protected east - west route through the core is on de Maisonneuve. It does get pretty packed with cyclists during rush hour. There are bixi bike stations all along this route and they should all be full of bikes after commuters drop them into the stations in the morning when heading to work. Conversely, they empty out at about 5pm in the mad bixi rush heading hkme from work, and it gets tricky to find a free bike downtown until they're replenished a couple hours later.

Biking downtown should be fine in Montreal. Just try to use streets with protected bikelanes like Maisonneuve, Berri, etc., though biking outside of downtown in places like Plateau, Rosemont, Outremont can be very pleasant - a good network of protected bike lanes or the new Reseau Express Velo (streets that prioritize bike traffic to create an express biking network) - especially on quiet, tree-lined streets with abundant cafes and restaurants and parks.
 
Toronto Rockets are huge by North American standards.
Huge? Significantly wider than Montreal, New York City, and even the elevated trains in Chicago! And a lot shorter than some New York City trains. The only other subway I can think of that I've ridden in North America (other than NYC, Chicago, Montreal) is Washington DC, and the trains there are wider than in Montreal too - looking online, the DC cars are the same length as ours, but 4.7 cm narrower. Compared to the Montreal cars that are 62.7 cm narrower. Slightly lower ceilings near the door I seem to recall in DC - but relatively similar.

I've not ridden the LA subway (though I did sneak past the fare-paid zone at Union Station once to check it out!) - looking on-line, their train width is about the same as DC.

So if Toronto subway trains are similar to NYC, LA, and Washington DC ... then I'm wondering which subway standard are they huge by? Surely the North American subway standard isn't Mexico City!
 
Toronto Rockets are huge by North American standards. I've only been able to find similarly-sized cars in some Asian/Chinese cities with much higher ridership and network.

I wouldn't call them tiny. Cramped yes, during peak hours. During off hours, they are quite pleasant to ride. The ride also tends to be more smooth than what I experienced on TTC - perhaps due to rubber tires and/or ATC. Most riders are able to stand in the middle of each AZUR car without the need to hold onto any sort handhold for support due to the general stability of the ride.

Id say thats not super accurate.

Its more common for trains to be smaller like the Azurs in North America, but there are plenty of trains as large as the Toronto Rocket.

MARTA, Washington Metro, and especially BART have subways with similar widths to the Toronto trains.
 
I actually wouldn't mind seeing a chart of subway widths for North America, just cuz I think it's interesting in that we have the two extremes: hulking TR and ultra-narrow ICTS mkI. I've skimmed over different widths in the past, but some are hard to get ahold of. Then there's smaller systems like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston. Nfitz brought up Mexico City which is foreign to me and I can't find any data. On that note I don't think I was aware of how large of a system they had....really a massive true network.

What I think is safe to say is that we're on the large end, in that I don't believe there's any systems with trains wider than ours. Globally. Or at least wider than 3.2m.
 
I actually wouldn't mind seeing a chart of subway widths for North America, just cuz I think it's interesting in that we have the two extremes: hulking TR and ultra-narrow ICTS mkI. I've skimmed over different widths in the past, but some are hard to get ahold of. Then there's smaller systems like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston. Nfitz brought up Mexico City which is foreign to me and I can't find any data. On that note I don't think I was aware of how large of a system they had....really a massive true network.

What I think is safe to say is that we're on the large end, in that I don't believe there's any systems with trains wider than ours. Globally. Or at least wider than 3.2m.

Ironically, despite the huge size of our subway trains, they are a lot narrower than most new subway/metro lines being built because they utilize third rails.
 
Montréal announced that they're retrofitting 13 stations on the orange line with platform screen doors: https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...-getting-anti-suicide-barriers-at-13-stations

In addition, the 26 stations that comprise the under-construction REM will have these platform screen doors, as will the 5 stations in the funded but not yet under-construction blue line extension.

I was a bit surprised that the cost is only $10-15 million per station. Perhaps the TTC will take another look if DoFo is kicked out and the province doesn't end up taking over the subway.
That being said, the UPX, which was a Liberal project has doors at 2 stations, so maybe uploading to the gov would eventually result in these doors being added in - just not with the PCs I imagine.

Edit: I see that this news was already posted in the TTC catch-all thread.
 
I like AZUR trains over TTC TR trains, regardless there is no AC on them.

I even like the station display showing the train leaving a station as well where it is between the stations, to arriving at the station. Also, each stations that has bus service to it, those routes show up on the display board.

There is lost in seating due to width and length of car. Have some issues with the seats, but been on worse ones. I like the door lights that are white between stations, green for the side the doors they open on and the flashing red lights for closing. Because of no AC, ceilings are higher than the TR's.

Huge different between AZUR trains and MR-73 for smooth ride, even TTC rail.

As for not having AC, I find it odd that other cities don't have issues with heat in the tunnels and it goes back to the tire issues. It was stated when the line open, trains couldn't operate outside because the heat would blow the tires. Didn't see this issue in Paris back in 2012 on the outdoor sections.

Spacing of the stations is all over the place. I found it odd that you could do cross platform connection with another line if you were going that way.

As for washrooms, yes that is an issue, as you can get off at a station and find nothing to go to like TTC, if you have to go.

The doors are an issue, especially if you are an accessibility person. The doors are haft open and must be held open to let an accessibility person in, if the station is accessibility.

All stations I have been to had some kind of seating that is part of the wall or built into it.

Having a driver only and no announcement for doors closings, was no issues to a point.
 
Montreal Metro is, generally, very good. I use it a lot when I am there and have no problems.

I think it does have accessibility issues but that aside it is an efficient system that provides good coverage of the city.

Biggest tip I have for people from Toronto using it is spend some time with a map and get familiar with the endpoints of each of the lines.....the direction signage for trains is not East-West or North-South but rather trains are to “X endpoint

Great tip. That definitely takes some getting used to.

The Montreal Metro is great, but it also makes me appreciate the TTC.
 
I even like the station display showing the train leaving a station as well where it is between the stations, to arriving at the station. Also, each stations that has bus service to it, those routes show up on the display board.
It's a great idea when you have a few routes that serve a station, also it's great when you don't have to have an accompanying audio announcement. Don't forget the TTC has been sued multiple times for not having announcements of stops accessible to everyone. I can't imagine what it would be like on a TTC train having to listen to every bus or streetcar connection available at each station. As an example, here's how it would be for Main street Station "Next station is Main Street Sation, Main Street Sation. Bus and streetcar connections at this station are for the 23 Daws 20 cliffside, 113 danforth, 87 cosbern, 67 mortimor and 506 Carlton.
 
Last edited:
I like AZUR trains over TTC TR trains, regardless there is no AC on them.

I even like the station display showing the train leaving a station as well where it is between the stations, to arriving at the station. Also, each stations that has bus service to it, those routes show up on the display board.

There is lost in seating due to width and length of car. Have some issues with the seats, but been on worse ones. I like the door lights that are white between stations, green for the side the doors they open on and the flashing red lights for closing. Because of no AC, ceilings are higher than the TR's.

Huge different between AZUR trains and MR-73 for smooth ride, even TTC rail.

As for not having AC, I find it odd that other cities don't have issues with heat in the tunnels and it goes back to the tire issues. It was stated when the line open, trains couldn't operate outside because the heat would blow the tires. Didn't see this issue in Paris back in 2012 on the outdoor sections.

Spacing of the stations is all over the place. I found it odd that you could do cross platform connection with another line if you were going that way.

As for washrooms, yes that is an issue, as you can get off at a station and find nothing to go to like TTC, if you have to go.

The doors are an issue, especially if you are an accessibility person. The doors are haft open and must be held open to let an accessibility person in, if the station is accessibility.

All stations I have been to had some kind of seating that is part of the wall or built into it.

Having a driver only and no announcement for doors closings, was no issues to a point.

Paris is a lot more temperate than Montreal. They dont get the extreme colds that Montreal does, so they can run the rubber tyred trains outside.

Also the Paris tunnels are bigger. The Montreal tunnels were single bored and the problem is that there isnt enough space to properly do ventilation for the AC on the trains into the tunnels.
 
I was there about three weeks ago. Apparently they shut off AC on the transit system on the weekends to save money.

They've never had AC, the tunnels are too deep and trains using AC would only heat up the tunnels and stations to unbearable temperatures because only heat can be transferred.
 

Back
Top