Blainville-Saint-Jérôme Line (AMT)

{| Railway line headerThe Blainville–Saint-Jérôme line is a commuter rail line operated in the Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada area, by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, or AMT, the umbrella organization that plans, integrates, and coordinates public transportation services across this region.

Overview

This line links the Lucien-L'Allier station in downtown Montreal with Saint-Jérôme, on Montreal's North Shore. More than 2000 Park and Ride spaces are available for commuters.

The line offers service on weekdays only. The frequency of service is 25–45 minutes during rush hour and every two hours outside of rush hour, of which five trips continue to or begin at Lucien-L'Allier station. All other departures begin or end at Parc metro station. Riders can transfer to the 935 Trainbus service to travel to downtown (in the mornings) or to Parc station (in the afternoons).cite web | url=http://www.amt.qc.ca/tc/train/horaires/index.asp?ligne=3 | publisher=AMT | title=Horaire Montreal/Blainville Saint-Jerome | date=2006 | accessdate=2006-12-26] cite web | url=http://www.amt.qc.ca/docs/avis/Pann_Horaire_BL_Jan07.pdf | publisher=AMT | title=Horaire Montreal/Blainville Saint-Jerome (January 8, 2007| date=2007 | accessdate=2006-12-26]

Today, more than 9,000 people ride the line daily.

History

CP Service

The line between Montreal and Saint-Jérôme was built in 1876 by the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental railway (QMOO), which was owned by the Government of Quebec. In 1881, it was sold to Canadian Pacific along with the line on the north shore of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, between Quebec City and Ottawa. CP operated Le petit train du nord, the Ottawa train via Lachute, the Quebec train via Trois-Rivières as well as the Sainte-Thérèse RDC train along this route between 1882 and 1979.

AMT Service

The Montreal–Blainville line was originally opened in July 1997 and was supposed to serve commuters during the construction on the Marius-Dufresne bridge. Although it offered only three departures per day (two peak, one reverse peak), it instantly became very successful. In 1997, there were only four stations: Blainville, Sainte-Thérèse, Saint-Martin, and Jean-Talon (now Parc). The stations were merely wooden platforms with gravel parking lots; not too much money was spent because the line was not supposed to become permanent. Service increased in September 1997 to six departures per day (four peak, two reverse peak) and stations were added at Sainte-Rose and Henri-Bourassa (now Bois-de-Boulogne), the line had become permanent. The Rosemère station at Rosemère was built in 1998.

To make the operation successful, buses were used to carry passengers from areas around the stations in Blainville and Sainte-Thérèse. These buses came from the CIT des Basses-Laurentides (now CIT Laurentides). In Montreal STCUM (now STM) buses were used from the Jean-Talon Station to downtown Montreal (Guy-Concordia) metro station (The 935 Trainbus Blainville / Centreville)cite web | url=http://www.amt.qc.ca/docs/communique/Communique061.asp | publisher=AMT | title=Reprise du service de la navette trainbus 935, de la gare Jean-Talon au centre-ville | date=1999 | accessdate=2006-12-26] .

In 1999, the STCUM had problems with a number of buses in their Nova LFS fleet, pulling them off the roads completely. To cope with the situation the AMT decided to extend the service from Parc metro directly downtown to Gare Windsor (now Lucien L'Allier Terminus).

In late 2003, a stop was added at Montréal-Ouest. Trains previously passed through the station without stopping.

On October 5, 2006, AMT leased 8 bilevel coaches and one F59PH locomotive from GO Transit to help cope with increased ridership following the collapse of the De la Concorde overpass in Laval. On November 10, 2006, the train was returned to GO Transit when the highway re-opened.

On October 18, 2006, the AMT opened a temporary station, Vimont, to again help cope with the increased number of travellers after the overpass collapse. The station has since become a permanent stop on the line.

On January 8, 2007, the line was extended from Blainville to Saint-Jérôme; The new Chabanel station was also opened, and a new schedule was released. As a result, only 10 round trips are planned per day instead of 11. cite web | url=http://www.amt.qc.ca/docs/pdf/train/Depliant_BL_0107.pdf | publisher=AMT | title=Train de Banlieue Montréal/Blainville/Saint-Jérôme| date=2007 | accessdate=2007-01-08]

On April 28, 2007, along with the opening of the metro to Laval, the De La Concorde station was opened. On April 27, 2007, the Saint-Martin station was closed due to its proximity to the De La Concorde station.

Future projects

* The Mirabel train station has not yet opened, due to delays in rezoning agricultural land for use as a train station.
* The Vimont train station will be made permanent (paved parking, bus loop, safer infrastructure) in 2008, once the City of Laval completes its extension of boulevard Dagenais.
* There are also plans to bring the line into Mount Royal Tunnel, joining the Deux-Montagnes Line. The proposed plan would reduce travel time to downtown Montreal by 15 minutes, arriving directly at Central Station, instead of circling Mount Royal to arrive at Lucien-L'Allier station. The AMT plans to purchase dual-powered locomotives, like the ones to be used on the Repentigny–Mascouche Line, so that trains may run electrically when in the tunnel while continuing to operate on diesel on the rest of the line.
* There are also plans to double the track between Saint-Martin Junction and Sainte-Rose train stations to increase the number of daily trips.
* The AMT is planning a station in Outremont at the current site of the Outremont Yards. The Université de Montréal purchased the land and plans to convert the rail yards into a second campus to deal with its shortage of classrooms, offices, student residences, and other facilities.

List of stations

The following stations are on the Blainville line:

Note

* The Gare Saint-Martin, which was located 1.5 km north of Gare De La Concorde, was closed as of April 27, 2007. De La Concorde Metro was opened on Saturday April 28, 2007 and Gare De La Concorde was opened on Monday April 30, 2007.

Notes

*The Blainville line operates over the following Canadian Pacific Railway subdivisions:
** Westmount Subdivision (between Lucien L'Allier [0.1] and Montreal West [4.6]
** North Junction Lead (between Montreal-West [0.0] and St-Luc Jct* [2.0]
** Adirondack Subdivision (between St-Luc Jct [45.4] and Outremont* [49.1]
** Parc Subdivision (between Outremont [4.7] and Saint-Jérôme [32.9]
** Note: The AMT now owns the track from Sainte-Thérèse to Saint-Jérôme
* Saint-Luc Jct and Outremont are not passenger stops.

ee also

* Chemins de Fer Quebec-Gatineau
* Deux-Montagnes Line
* Dorion-Rigaud Line
* Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line
* Delson-Candiac Line
* Repentigny-Mascouche Line
* List of Agence métropolitaine de transport park and ride lots

References

External links

* [http://www.amt.qc.ca/tc/train/plans/blainville.asp Official AMT website] fr icon
* [http://www.stm.info/English/info/reseau2006.pdf STM 2006 system map]
* [http://www.stm.info/English/info/reseau2008.pdf 2008 STM System Map]