Deux nouvelles stations de train à Montréal (McGill, Édouard-Monpetit)

[jesseps]

Next stops: McGill University and Universite de Montreal.

A new study gives a preliminary green light to build two commuter train stations underneath the McGill and Edouard Montpetit metro stations, next to the two university campuses.

 

The stations would be on the Montreal/Deux Montagnes rail line that runs through the Mount Royal tunnel.

 

The project pre-feasibility study completed this month for the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, a copy of which was obtained by The Gazette, reveals the station proposal could boost ridership, cut travel time and usher in the first straight-through commuter rail service linking the North and South Shores.

 

The study by the Tecsult consulting firm says the downtown station being studied by the MTA would be under the Place Montreal Trust shopping centre on McGill College Ave. between Ste. Catherine St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd., just north of the current Deux Montagnes terminal under Central Station.

 

The train tracks are nine metres below street level, under the Green Line's McGill metro station.

 

The Edouard Montpetit station would be farther north, inside the five-kilometre-long Mount Royal tunnel, built between 1913 and 1918.

Here, the rail tracks are 71 metres below Edouard Montpetit Blvd. and Vincent d'Indy Ave., where the metro's Blue Line has its Edouard Montpetit stop.

 

Excavation would be necessary at Edouard Montpetit to install a high-speed elevator, similar to one in Washington's 60-metre-deep Forest Glen subway station, the study says.

 

Much of the work at McGill and Edouard Montpetit stations would involve digging passages and emergency exits to meet National Fire Protection Association evacuation standards.

 

Daily downtown-bound train ridership has the potential to increase by more than double, to 79,800 passengers from the current 36,200, if the McGill College rail station is built, the study says. As many as 54,700 of those commuters would get off at McGill College, and the rest at Central Station, it says.

 

As many as 13,300 passengers would get off at a Universite de Montreal stop, the study says.

 

"We wanted to know if it was feasible," MTA president and executive director Joel Gauthier said when asked to comment on the study. "It is feasible, and it would have a tremendous impact on ridership to downtown." The next step would be feasibility studies to nail down the price tag, he said. Laval's three new metro stations each cost $50 million to $65 million, he said, which offers a benchmark.

 

The MTA's 2007-08-09 capital works program shows a combined $1 million is being spent in 2006 and 2007 on feasibility studies for each of the two proposed rail stations.

 

It says the Edouard Montpetit station would offer rail commuters from Laval and the North Shore direct public-transit access to the Universite de Montreal for the first time.

 

And it says the McGill College rail station would provide residents of Outremont and Cote des Neiges a five-minute commute to downtown.

Place Montreal Trust was built in the 1980s with an expectation that it would have an underground train station, Gauthier said.

 

Ivanhoe Cambridge, which owns the shopping mall portion of the Place Montreal Trust complex as well as the Eaton Centre across the street, said it was approached by the MTA in 2006 about the station.

 

"We had meetings and we have other meetings planned for July," said Helene Brault, director of communications for Ivanhoe Cambridge. "It's a pre-feasibility study," she said when asked about the firm's position. "So it's premature at the moment." Gauthier said the two stations are part of the MTA's development vision for 2017.

 

The MTA plans to hike passenger capacity on the Montreal/Deux Montagnes commuter line with double-decker trains.

 

It will also open a $300-million Montreal/Repentigny-Mascouche line in 2011. The line is to run on an existing diesel track from the east onto the electric Deux Montagnes line so it can take the Mount Royal tunnel to downtown.

 

The mix of diesel and electric lines prompted the MTA to launch a call for proposals with New Jersey's transit authority this spring to find dual-mode diesel and electric trains.

 

Once it has dual-mode trains, the MTA could redirect its Montreal/Blainville-St. Jerome diesel train line onto the Deux Montagnes line at its Park Ave. station so it, too, can take the Mount Royal tunnel and eliminate its current 15-minute detour around the mountain.

 

The MTA also wants to put dual-mode trains on its Montreal/Mont St. Hilaire line on the South Shore so the train can go beyond Central Station, onto the

 

Deux Montagnes line and continue to the North Shore.

All those lines could stop at Edouard Montpetit and McGill College, the Tecsult study says.

 

A McGill College rail station would give the MTA the option to stop riding its commuter trains to Central Station, which is owned by Canadian National.

 

The MTA does not reveal how much rent it pays to CN to use Central Station. A source said it's close to $7.5 million this year.

 

"I think the McGill College (station) makes a lot of sense," said David Hanna, director of graduate studies in urban studies at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

 

"You're right there in the heart of the action. You're right there at all the underground malls. You're right there in all the big office towers. You're right there at the doors of the university. So it's a no-brainer. It's going to be a huge success." Hanna said, however, he is "very skeptical" about the Edouard Montpetit station.

 

It would be very costly to dig an elevator shaft 71 metres deep, he said. And the rock in the area is much harder than the standard Montreal limestone, which would elevate costs, Hanna added. A tramway there would be less costly, he said.

 

(Courtesy of The Gazette)

[mtlurb]

Deux nouvelles stations de train à Montréal

 

Vincent Larouche

Le Journal de Montréal

30/06/2007 12h20

 

 

L'Agence métropolitaine de transport pourrait construire deux nouvelles stations de train de banlieue à Montréal et transformer la station de métro McGill en l'un des plus importants centres de transports en commun de la métropole.

 

Le projet, encore à l'état embryonnaire, impliquerait de relier les stations de métro McGill et Édouard-Montpetit, près de l'Université de Montréal, à la ligne Montréal- Deux-Montagnes du train de banlieue.

 

Un rapport de préfaisabilité réalisé pour l'AMT par la firme Tecsult confirme que le projet est réalisable et laisse entendre qu'il engendrerait une hausse marquée de la fréquentation des transports collectifs.

 

Plutôt que de descendre à l'actuelle gare centrale, les banlieusards pourraient quitter le train à la station McGill, en plein centre-ville.

 

«C'est sûr que ce serait intéressant en termes de transports collectifs, la station McGill étant située plus au centre-ville que la gare centrale, qui est moins collée sur le métro, explique Marie Gendron, viceprésidente de l'AMT. Ça créerait un pôle d'attraction au centre-ville», dit-elle.

 

La vice-présidente prévient toutefois qu'il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres. «Ça ne se fait pas en criant ciseau, et ce n'est pas gratuit non plus, dit-elle. Les coûts sont assez élevés.»

La vice-présidente souligne que la construction des deux nouvelles stations permettrait de désengorger la ligne orange du métro de Montréal, qui est particulièrement encombrée aux heures de pointe.

[jesseps]

I have the same topic, but actually put it in infrastructure for some reason

[mtlurb]

i'll merge both.

[jesseps]

Thanks

 

Finally a bilingual topic

 

Atleast the one you posted is shorter and more to the point.

[dwayne89]

Its good to know that the Laval extension has caused some momentom.

[ProposMontréal]

Une question vraiment stupide et je m'en excuse, mais peut-être que c'est parce que je n'ai pas "d'amis de banlieue sans auto" mais je ne connais pas grand monde qui utilisent les trains, serais ce une bonne idée d'ajouter ces deux stations à grand frais quand les trains convergent déjà vers des stations de métro.

 

Je vous jure que c'est une question et non une critique, je me demande vraiment si cela en vaut la peine, cet ajout de 2 stations inter modales.

[ToxiK]

Une question vraiment stupide et je m'en excuse, mais peut-être que c'est parce que je n'ai pas "d'amis de banlieue sans auto" mais je ne connais pas grand monde qui utilisent les trains, serais ce une bonne idée d'ajouter ces deux stations à grand frais quand les trains convergent déjà vers des stations de métro.

 

Je vous jure que c'est une question et non une critique, je me demande vraiment si cela en vaut la peine, cet ajout de 2 stations inter modales.

 

Je crois que oui. Des universités sont des pôles importants de déplacement et un grand nombre d'étudiants utilisent le transport en commun et un bon nombre de ces étudiants vivent en banlieue. Avec ces stations, plusieurs étudiants pourront utiliser le train plutôt que l'autobus et le métro (ou même la voiture) et sauver du temps en évitant certains transferts.

 

De plus McGill est une station importante et avoir un lien entre la ligne verte et un train de banlieue permettrait aux usagers du train de pouvoir transférer directement à la ligne Verte sans avoir à passer par la ligne Orange.

 

Finalement, avoir une station intermodale reliée à la ligne Bleue ne nuirait sûrement pas. Cette ligne est sous utilisée et si un lien avec le train de banlieue peut aider à augmenter l'achalandage, ce sera déjà ça de pris.

[ProposMontréal]

Tous de bons point, merci d'éclairer mes questions

[mcgill]

McGill University has about 33,000 students and nearly 10,000 employees. Parking on campus is at a premium (and is soon to be even more scarce) and a lot of students and staff are commuters. I believe that if McGill University goes ahead with the proposed underground connections to McGill metro station, then the next logical step would be to have the train stop there too. By that logic, I would say the same thing for UdeM and Edouard Montpetit metro station.