Agence métropolitaine de transport

The Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) or Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) is the umbrella organization that plans, integrates, and coordinates public transportation services across Canada's Greater Montreal Region, including the Island of Montreal, Laval (Île Jésus), and communities along both the North Shore of the Rivière des Mille-Îles and the South Shore of the Saint Lawrence River.

The AMT also operates Montreal's commuter rail service, called trains de banlieue in French.

Overview

AMT's territory spans 63 municipalities and one native reserve, 13 regional county municipalities, and 21 transit authorities. It serves a population of approximately 3.7 million people who make more than 750,000 trips daily.

AMT's mandate includes the management of reserved (HOV) lanes, metropolitan terminuses, park-and-ride lots, and a budget of $163 million, which is shared amongst the transit corporations and inter-municipal public transit organizations. Apart from these essential services, AMT is also responsible for Montreal's commuter rail service, which links the downtown core with communities as far west as Rigaud, as far east as Mont-Saint-Hilaire, and as far north as Blainville.

Commuter trains

The AMT has two types of trains: diesel push-pull trains and electric multiple unit (EMU) trains. The Deux-Montagnes line is the only EMU line, all the others use push-pull locomotives. The Deux-Montagnes line is electrified because of the 3-mile long tunnel to Central Station where diesel trains are prohibited.

The AMT commuter trains (trains de banlieue) operate on tracks owned by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. The Deux-Montagnes and Mont-Saint-Hilaire lines run on CN trackage and operate out of Central Station, while the Dorion-Rigaud, Blainville, and Delson-Candiac lines run on CP trackage and operate out of Lucien L'Allier terminus, beside the historic Windsor Station.

The train lines are integrated with the bus and metro network maintained by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), or Montreal Transit Corporation.

Fares

The greater Montreal area is divided into 8 fare zones. Starting from downtown Montreal, they streach outwards in all directions. The first three zones are within the cities of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil only. Zones 4 to 8 are circular around the centre of Montreal. This standardized fare zone means a user generally pays the same amount whether they travel by bus or by train. The commuter train fare system is based on the assumption that the user is travelling to or from downtown. There are no reductions, for example, for travel between zone 2 and 5 or exclusively in zone 3.

To use the train, you must have a TRAM ticket (Zone 1 to 3) or a TRAIN ticket (Zone 4 to 6). The difference being with a TRAM ticket you can easily enter the Montreal Metro or STM buses without any additional payment. Regular users can get a TRAM Monthly Pass which allows for unlimited travel on any type of service within the zone indicated on the front of the card. Tickets and passes for commuter trains are valid for any line, as long as travel is limited to the zone for which the ticket is purchased and is used within 90 minutes.

Tickets are sold by automated vending machines at each station. Passes for all zones are sold at Central and Lucien-L'Allier stations. Passes for Zones 1-6 are sold at a few stores near the suburban stations. Passes are valid for a calendar month, and are normally on sale from the 20th of the previous month to the 5th of their month of validity. Passengers can also subscribe to La TRAM Postale which automatically debits the passenger's bank account or credit card and the sends the monthly pass by mail. The March pass goes on sale February 20.

Locomotives and Passenger Vehicles

The AMT has a variety of rolling stock ranging in date from the 1960s to 2005, originally aquiring rolling stock directly from the railroads.

Locomotives

4 General Motors GP9u Locomotives (1310 — 1313). 1,800 hp. Built in 1959. Rebuilt in 1993 by GEC Alstom.
11 General Motors F59PHI Locomotives (1320 — 1330). 3,000 hp. Built between 2000 and 2001.
5 General Motors F40PH Locomotives (various numbers). 3,000 hp. All former Amtrak units on lease from Rail World Locomotive Leasing.

Passenger Cars

80 Single-Level Coaches (originally from GO Transit); Built between 1967 and 1976 by Hawker-Siddeley Canada
24 Single-Level Coaches; Built in 1989 by Bombardier Transportation (similar to NJ Transit's Comet II series)
9 Bi-Level Coaches (Gallery Design); Built in 1969 by Canadian Vickers
22 Bi-Level Coaches; Built in 2004 by Bombardier Transportation
58 Single-Level Electric Multiple Unit (MR-90 Design); Built in 1994-1995 by Bombardier Transportation.

The 80 Hawker-Siddeley cars are in operation on all lines except the Deux-Montagnes line. There are two types of cars; the 100 (1000) series and the 200 (1200) series. The only difference is the 200 and 1200 series has high doors for use at Central Station and are only used on the Saint-Hilaire Line

The 24 Bombardier single-level cars are in operation exclusively on the Dorion-Rigaud line Line.

The 9 Canadian Vickers Galley cars are currently being rebuilt. Plans are to return them to the Blainville Line where they were prior to their removal in June 2005.

The 58 Bombardier Electrics are exclusively used on the Deux-Montagnes line

The 22 new Bombardier BiLevels are in operation on the Dorion-Rigaud line and Blainville Line. Although originally planned to be part of the revitalization project for the Dorion-Rigaud line, a set was put on the Blainville line while older Double Deckers from the 1970's are being rebuilt. The AMT wants all currently operating diesel lines to be BiLevel.

History

Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) had long operated commuter trains in the Montreal area, but by the 1980s, their services had dwindled to one route each. The Société de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM), or Montreal Urban Community Transportation Corporation (MUCTC), which already managed metro and bus services across the Island of Montreal, assumed management of CN's Deux-Montagnes commuter service and CP's Rigaud service in 1982 as the two railways began scaling back their services.

In 1997, management and financing of both lines was transferred to the newly-created AMT, which had been established to distribute funding and coordinate transportation planning among the numerous transit operators throughout the Greater Montreal Region. Later that year, the AMT inaugurated service between Blainville and the Parc/Jean Talon train station in Montreal's Park Extension district, connecting to the metro at Parc . Originally, the service was designed to provide a temporary alternative for motorists from Laval and the North Shore of Montreal, while the Highway 117 bridge was being repaired. The service proved to be so popular that the AMT continued to fund it, and even extended a number of trains to the Lucien-L'Allier station downtown in 1999, and continues to provide off-peak daytime weekday service on this line.

In 2000, AMT inaugurated its McMasterville service (which runs along a CN line), and later extended it to Mont-Saint-Hilaire in 2002. In 2001, the AMT initiated a pilot project, launching service on a fifth line (using CP tracks) to Delson. This was later extended to Candiac in 2005.

List of commuter train stations

Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line

Delson-Candiac Line

Lucien-L'Allier (connection to Lucien-L'Allier metro station)
Vendôme (connection to Vendôme metro station)
Montréal-Ouest, Montreal West
LaSalle, LaSalle
Sainte-Catherine, Sainte-Catherine
Saint-Constant, Saint-Constant
Delson, Delson
Candiac, Candiac

Repentigny-Mascouche Line

On March 17, 2006 the Quebec government held a press conference announcing the creation of a new train line between Montreal and Mascouche. The 51-kilometre line would use the existing Mount Royal Tunnel and Canadian National track from Montreal to Repentigny. New track will be built from Repentigny to Mascouche. The total journey from Masouche would be 61 minutes. At a cost of $300 million CAD, it will have 14 stops (11 new, three existing) and offer five departures per weekday rush-hour. The line is scheduled to be operational by 2008.

The current station list is as follows:

Gare Centrale (connection to Bonaventure metro station), Montreal
Canora, Montreal
Mont-Royal, Mont-Royal
L'Acadie
Sauvé, (connection to Sauvé metro station)
Pie-IX
Lacordaire
Louis-H-Lafontaine
Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Pointe-aux-Trembles
Charlemagne, Repentigny
Le Gardeur/Repentigny
Terrebonne, Terrebonne
Mascouche, Mascouche

Express buses

The AMT also runs three Metropolitan Express Buses.

Express Terminus Centre-Ville 90 — operated by the RTL in Longueuil and links the Chevrier Park-n-Ride to downtown Montreal.
Express Le Carrefour 902 — operated by the STL in Laval and links the Le Carrefour shopping centre with the Cote-Vertu Metro station (with a stop at the Bois Franc commuter train station).

Future projects

The AMT's future projects include:

Extending the Blainville line north to Saint-Jérôme, with an intermediate station in Mirabel. The extension is scheduled for completion by the end of 2006, as well as building additional stations in Montreal (Chabanel) and Laval De La Concorde.
The newly-announced line to Mascouche, with service to begin in late 2008.
Studying the return of light rail service to Montreal. One light rail route would follow Rene Levesque Boulevard from Gare Centrale, then north along Bleury Street and Park Avenue to meet up with the Parc Station. Another route would go from Gare Centrale, along the A-10 corridor, to Chevrier Boulevard in Brossard, which is identical to the current Route 90 RTL express bus. Light rail is, however, also being studied as part of the ongoing waterfront revitalization plans.
Gradually replacing the existing single level coaches with BiLevel coaches similar to those currently in use on the Montreal/Dorion-Rigaud line.

To ease over-crowding on the Deux-Montagnes line, there are plans to:

Extend the double track from its current end point at the Bois-Franc station to the Roxboro-Pierrefonds station.
Acquire 22 new bilevel cars for exclusive use on this line.
Create an overpass for the commuter train to by-pass CN's Saint-Laurent subdivision near Montpellier station (a freight line with moderate usage). CN says that it will not allow any more commuter trains without a new overpass.