Mascouche line

Mascouche Line

Outbound train at Mont-Royal Station
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System Agence métropolitaine de transport
Locale Greater Montreal
Termini Central Station
Mascouche
Stations 13
Daily ridership 5,000 (2014)[1]
Operation
Opened December 1, 2014
Operator(s) CN Montrain Division
Technical
Line length 52 km (32 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

Mascouche Line

Legend
 Mascouche
Zone 6
Zone 5
 Terrebonne
 Repentigny
 Autoroute 40
 Autoroute 640
 Rivière des Mille Îles

Zone 5
Zone 3
 Pointe-aux-Trembles
 Rivière-des-Prairies
Anjou
Zone 3
Zone 2

 Saint-Léonard–Montréal-Nord
 Saint-Michel–Montréal-Nord
Zone 2
Zone 1
 Sauvé Sauvé
Ahuntsic
 Autoroute 15

Autoroute 40
 Mont-Royal
Canora
originally Portal Heights

Mount Royal Tunnel
 Central Station Bonaventure
 Amtrak

The Mascouche line (also known as Eastern Train line (French: Train de l'Est)) is a commuter rail line in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT), the umbrella organization that plans, integrates, and coordinates public transportation services across this region.

Commuter service on part of the line was operated by the Canadian National Railway from 1946 until 1968. The AMT resumed passenger service on the line December 1, 2014.

Overview

This line was announced in a press conference on March 17, 2006, and follows a major campaign by the residents of eastern Montréal and the north-eastern suburbs to restore commuter rail service.

The 51-kilometre (32 mi) line uses the Mount Royal Tunnel and Canadian National track from Montreal's Central Station to Repentigny. New track was built from Repentigny to Terrebonne along the Quebec Autoroute 640, before turning alongside the former Canadian Pacific (now the Chemins de Fer Québec-Gatineau) line at Mascouche. The journey time between Mascouche and downtown Montreal is 61 minutes.

Originally estimated at $300 million and expected to open in 2008, the line costed $670 million and opened in 2014. It has 13 stops (10 new, three existing) and offers 8 departures in each direction per weekday, mainly during rush-hour.

Locomotives

On May 14, 2007, the AMT and New Jersey Transit put out a joint call for tenders to purchase dual-powered locomotives. In Montreal, the locomotives switch to electric power at Mont-Royal (this was originally planned for Ahuntsic) to enter Mount Royal Tunnel to Central Station. This international project is the first of its kind in North America.[2] Twenty locomotives of type ALP-45DP are being delivered to the AMT from Bombardier Transportation. They haul AMT's 3000-series Bombardier MultiLevel coaches, in consists of 5 or 6 cars.

History

Two former commuter train lines ran along part of the route of the line. No ridership statistics for either are available.

Métropolitrain

A temporary service dubbed the "Métropolitrain" was organized by the STCUM from May 15 to October 12, 1990, while Autoroute 40, the boulevard Métropolitain, was being rebuilt. It ran on Canadian National track from near the Du Collège metro station to Repentigny with an intermediate station near the Sauvé Metro station. Two trips ran each way in each weekday rush hour. There was no direct service to central Montreal. As there was no existing regional transit coordinator at the time, the line was never very successful.

Stations:

CN Montreal North commuter line

CN operated a commuter service from Central Station to Montreal North from 1946 until November 8, 1968. An electric locomotive and several coaches ran one round trip a day in each direction, in rush hours only. Stations going east along the CN St Laurent Subdivision from Eastern Junction where it meets the Deux-Montagnes line were:

Ridership was never very high. Near the end, most remaining passengers preferred to switch to the Sauve Metro station on the Orange Line of the Montreal Metro which opened October 14, 1966. Congestion on that part of the line was one of the reasons the Train de l'Est was inaugurated.

List of stations

The following is the list of proposed stations:

Station Location Connections
Central Station Borough of Ville-Marie Via Rail, Amtrak, Downtown Terminus, buses and public transit connections.
Canora Boundary between the town of Mount-Royal and the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce STM buses.
Mont-Royal Town of Mount-Royal STM buses.
Ahuntsic[3][4] Borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville STM buses and within stiff walking distance of the Chabanel station
Sauvé[5] Sauvé Metro station, VIA Rail (See Ahuntsic railway station), STM buses
Saint-Michel-Montréal-Nord[4][6] Boroughs of Montréal-Nord and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension STM 39, 41, 139, 439, 440
Saint-Léonard-Montréal-Nord[4][7] Boroughs of Montréal-Nord and Saint-Léonard STM 32, 33, 136, 432
Anjou[8] Borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles STM 28, 40, 44, 444, 448, 449. STL 925 & MRC Les Moulins
Rivière-des-Prairies[9] STM 49.
Pointe-aux-Trembles[10] VIA Rail, (See Pointe-aux-Trembles railway station), STM 186, 410, 430, 486, 487
Repentigny[11] Repentigny VIA Rail (Le Gardeur railway station)
Terrebonne[12] Terrebonne
Mascouche[13] Mascouche

This list may be updated as more information is released.[4]

De l'Acadie, Pie-IX, and Lacordaire stations have been renamed Ahuntsic, Montréal-Nord, and St. Léonard respectively, to avoid confusion with the Métro stations bearing the same names.[4] The latter two were again renamed to their current names.

Sauvé and Pointe-aux-Trembles stations were not ready in time for the original opening; both opened July 6, 2015.

Criticism of route

Most observers agree that the proposed route from Montreal to Repentigny makes sense for several reasons, including the use of existing infrastructure. The route from Repentigny to Mascouche has been criticized for several reasons, including:

See also

References

External links

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