Mascouche line

Mascouche
Outbound train at Mont-Royal station
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System Réseau de transport métropolitain
Locale Greater Montreal
Termini Central Station
Mascouche
Stations 13
Daily ridership 7,400 (2016)[1]
Ridership 1,650,300 (2016)
Line number MA
Website RTM - Mascouche line
Operation
Opened December 1, 2014
Operator(s) Bombardier
Technical
Line length 52 km (32 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

Mascouche line
 Mascouche
Zone 6
Zone 5
 Terrebonne
 Repentigny
A-40
A-640
Rivière-des-Prairies
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
Saint-Jérôme line
to Saint-Jérôme
Ahuntsic
A-15
Deux-Montagnes line
A-40
 Mont-Royal
Canora
originally Portal Heights
Saint-Jérôme line
to Lucien-L'Allier
Mount Royal Tunnel
 Central Station
Bonaventure
Mont-Saint-Hilaire line & Amtrak

Mascouche (also designated exo5, known during planning as Repentigny–Mascouche) is a commuter railway line in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Réseau de transport métropolitain (RTM), the umbrella organization that integrates and coordinates public transport services across this region.

Opened on December 1, 2014 by the RTM's predecessor agency, the Agence Métropolitaine de transport (AMT), the Montreal region's 6th commuter train line required the construction of 10 new train stations, several civil engineering structures and 13 km of new railway track.

Overview

The line was announced as the Repentigny-Mascouche line 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 towards the Trois-Rivières Subdivision of the Chemins de fer Québec-Gatineau at Mascouche. Most of the route, in particular the section after Mont-Royal to Repentigny, follows a similar path to the never-built Line 6 of the Montreal Metro, which was planned as a steel-wheeled "regional metro" line using a somewhat similar alignment. 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 former Agence métropolitaine de transport (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 were delivered to the AMT from Bombardier Transportation. They now haul the RTM'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.

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:

  • Boulevard, at boulevard St. Laurent, which divides Montreal into East and West
  • Ahuntsic, site of current VIA Rail station
  • Sault-au-Récollet, near rue d'Iberville
  • St. Vital, at boulevard St. Michel
  • Pie-IX, at boulevard Pie-IX
  • Ste. Gertrude, at boulevard Ste. Gertrude
  • Montreal North, at boulevard Lacordaire

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 Mascouche line was inaugurated.

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 then-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:

Current service

The Agence Métropolitaine de transport (AMT) began service on this line on December 1, 2014 after completing construction of 10 new train stations, several civil engineering structures and 13 km of new railway track.

On June 1, 2017, the AMT was dissolved and replaced by two new governing bodies, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) and the Réseau de transport métropolitain (RTM). The RTM took over all former AMT services, including this line.

In May 2018, the RTM rebranded itself as Exo, and rebranded each line with a number and updated colour. The Mascouche line became Exo 5, and its line colour was updated to a lighter pastel shade of purple.

List of stations

There are 13 stations on the Mascouche line: [3]

Station Location Connections Zones
Central Station Borough of Ville-Marie , AmtrakAmtrak, Downtown Terminus, buses and public transit connections. 1
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 Borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville STM buses and within stiff walking distance of the Chabanel station
Sauvé[4] Sauvé, & STM buses
Saint-Michel-Montréal-Nord[3][5] Boroughs of Montréal-Nord and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension STM 39, 41, 139, 439, 440 2
Saint-Léonard-Montréal-Nord[3][6] Boroughs of Montréal-Nord and Saint-Léonard STM 32, 33, 136, 432
Anjou[7] Borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles STM 28, 40, 44, 444, 448, 449. STL 925 & MRC Les Moulins, 3
Rivière-des-Prairies[8] STM 48, 49
Pointe-aux-Trembles[9] STM 186, 410, 430, 486, 487
Repentigny[10] Repentigny 5
Terrebonne[11] Terrebonne
Mascouche[12] Mascouche 6

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:

  • The need to build (some say unnecessarily) 12 km of track from Repentigny to Mascouche.
  • In the Le Gardeur sector of Repentigny, the new track passes very close to a large General Dynamics munitions plant, where explosives are stored and processed. Both GD and Natural Resources Canada, which regulates explosives in Canada, have raised safety and security issues. AMT has built a large canopied shelter wall and berm between tracks and plant.
  • The route does not serve cities east of Repentigny, particularly L'Assomption and Joliette. Those cities have bus service to Repentigny.
  • Some say that the RTM could serve Mascouche more cheaply, easily, and quickly by using the CP line that leaves the Saint-Jérôme line at St. Martin Junction in Laval, also serving the eastern part of that city.

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.amt.qc.ca/Media/Default/pdf/section8/amt-rapport-annuel-2016.pdf
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 26, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 https://rtm.quebec/en/trip-planner/train/mascouche/0#Itineraire Mascouche line (RTM)
  4. ↑ Sauvé
  5. ↑ Montreal North Archived July 30, 2012, at Archive.is
  6. ↑ (untitled)
  7. ↑ Anjou Archived July 21, 2012, at Archive.is
  8. ↑ Rivière-des-Prairies Archived December 22, 2011, at Archive.is
  9. ↑ Pointe-aux-Trembles Archived July 18, 2012, at Archive.is
  10. ↑ Repenigny
  11. ↑ Terrebonne Archived July 18, 2012, at Archive.is
  12. ↑ Mascouche

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