Berri–UQAM station is a

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (french: Métro de Montréal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, ...

station in the borough of Ville-Marie, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (STM; en, Montreal Transit Corporation) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Ra ...

(STM) and is the system's central station. This station is served by the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, and

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

lines. It is located in the

Quartier Latin The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...

. Berri–UQAM is the 2nd deepest station in the network, and also the busiest station in the network, transfers not included. If transfers were included, the 13 million passengers number would rise to about 35–40 million a year. It is the only subway station in Canada to have three lines serving it.

History

Plaque commemorative, station Berri-UQAM

The station opened as Berri-de-Montigny with the opening of the Metro on October 14, 1966, serving the Green and Orange lines. The station was the site of the inauguration of the Metro by

Mayor of Montreal The mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of the Montreal City Council. The current mayor is Valérie Plante, who was elected into office on November 5, 2017, and sworn in on November 16. The office of the mayor administers all c ...

Jean Drapeau Jean Drapeau, (18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was Mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include the development of the Montreal Metro entirely underground mass transi ...

, president of the

Commission de transport de Montréal Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anothe ...

Lucien L'Allier Lucien L'Allier (1909 - 1978) was a Canadian engineer who is best known for having built the Montreal Metro, the city's subway system. Early life Born in the suburb of Saint-Laurent, Quebec he studied with the Frères des écoles chrétiennes, Co ...

and

Archbishop of Montreal The Archdiocese of Montréal ( la, Archdioecesis Marianopolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Canada. A metropolitan see, its archepiscopal see is the Montreal, Quebec. It includes Montreal ...

Paul-Émile Léger Paul-Émile Léger (April 26, 1904 – November 13, 1991) was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Montreal from 1950 to 1967, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 by Pope Pius XII. Early life an ...

. A plaque commemorating the inauguration is located in the mezzanine. The Yellow Line entered service on April 28, 1967, serving the

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

site on

Île Sainte-Hélène Saint Helen's Island (french: Île Sainte-Hélène) is an island in the Saint Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. It is situated immediately offshore from Old Mont ...

. In 1988, the station was renamed Berri–UQAM after the

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

located adjacent to the station. On September 2, 2001, a canister of

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

was set off inside the station, forcing the evacuation of the 300 passengers inside.

Station refurbishment

In 2007, STM began planning to refurbish the station, after learning that the waterproofing of the station had been compromised. Construction began in 2010, with renovation of electrical, mechanical and structural components including waterproofing the underground roof and upgrades to fire protection and ventilation systems. The work also included improvements to lighting, refurbishment of staircases, new architectural facings including wall tiling and ceilings, rearranging of corridors to the Orange and Green line platforms, as well as refurbishment and renovation of the entrance buildings. The renovation and upgrade works are planned for completion in 2025.

Accessibility

Alongside the renovation work, the station has been made partially

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

through the addition of

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

. In September 2009, two elevators connect the Orange Line platforms to the mezzanine, with an elevator connecting the street to the mezzanine opening in 2010. In November 2020, work to make the Green Line platforms accessible was completed, with the opening of two additional elevators. , construction to provide elevators to the Yellow Line is underway, despite the technical challenge of excavating and building new elevators below street level. Upon completion of the works in 2025, the station will have seven elevators allowing step-free access to all three lines, as well as to the street.

Overview

, and

Lines. The main part of the station is a cruciform

cut and cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

volume built underneath the intersection of rue Berri and boulevard de Maisonneuve; the volume is so large that the station's design had to include massive pillars to support the street. This central volume contains three levels. The upper level contains the rectangular

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

at its centre, with fare gates on all four sides; the arms extend out to the station's entrances, with two more entrances at the crossing, and are also lined with shops and services.

Staircases Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

lead from the mezzanine to the landings on either side of the Orange Line. These landings provide views of the great volumes over the Green Line platforms below. From the Green Line level,

escalators An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

and hallways connect the rest of the station to the Yellow Line terminus, built in a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

a block away under rue Saint-Denis, around below the surface. Limited space in the yellow line tail tracks cause trains to reverse both in the tail tracks and in the foretracks when they leave the station. All three lines have

side platforms A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

. The station was the first to be equipped with the MétroVision information screens, which displays news, commercials, and the time until the next train arrives. The mezzanine can be accessed from the street via elevators in the

Grande Bibliothèque du Québec The Grande Bibliothèque du Québec (GBQ) was a public corporation of the province of Quebec, Canada. It came into existence in 1998 and merged with Bibliothèque nationale du Québec in 2002. Its purpose was to plan the creation of the Grande B ...

and UQAM's Pavillon Judith-Jasmin; but those buildings are closed during some of the Metro's operating hours. However, there is an elevator in the Saint-Denis exit, which opened in June 2010 and is open throughout the operating hours. The station has 5 entrances: * Entrance A: 1500 Rue Berri * Entrance B: 505 Rue Sainte-Catherine Est * Entrance C: 850 Boulevard de Maisonneuve Est * Entrance D: 1470 Rue Saint-Denis * 1621 Rue Berri (no letter assigned)

Station layout

Architecture and art

The station has a total of four independent exits: three integrated into buildings (the Berri, Saint-Denis, and

Place Dupuis Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

exits) and one free-standing kiosk (the Sainte-Catherine exit). The station also contains several

underground city An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of thes ...

connections, listed below. The 1967 station was designed by Longpré et Marchand, with a 1999 free-standing kiosk entrance designed by architect Gaétan Pelletier.

Artwork

The work of five artists is exhibited in this station. The largest work is a stained-glass mural by Pierre Gaboriau and Pierre Osterrath entitled ''Hommage aux fondateurs de la ville de Montréal'' (homage to the founders of the city of Montreal). A gift of the Union régionale de Montréal des

caisses populaires Desjardins The Desjardins Group (french: Mouvement Desjardins) is a Canadian financial service cooperative and the largest federation of credit unions (french: caisses populaires) in North America. It was founded in 1900 in Lévis, Quebec, Lévis, Quebec b ...

and installed in 1969, it depicts

Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...

Jeanne Mance Jeanne Mance (November 12, 1606 – June 18, 1673) was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she established its first hospit ...

, and

Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (15 February 1612 9 September 1676) was a French military officer and the founder of Fort Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal) in New France (Province of Quebec, Canada). Early life Maisonneuve was born in ...

. It is located over the eastern portal of the Green Line tunnel. Three paintings by Robert LaPalme are located over the main staircase leading to the Yellow Line terminus. Originally located at the entrance to

, they represent three themes of the Expo: science, recreation, and culture. Emilie Gamelin

A plaque by LaPalme and Georges Lauda, commemorating the inauguration of the Metro, is located at the centre of the mezzanine. It is enclosed in a black circular bench, a popular meeting site, referred to as ''la rondelle'' (the hockey puck) or ''la pilule'' (the pill) or "le banc des fous" (the crazy bench). In the newer Sainte-Catherine entrance pavilion, a statue of Mother

Émilie Gamelin Émilie Tavernier Gamelin (19 February 1800 – 23 September 1851) was a Canadian social worker and Roman Catholic religious sister. She is best known as the founder of the Sisters of Providence of Montreal. In 2001 she was beatified b ...

by Raoul Hunter, commemorating

Place Émilie-Gamelin Place Émilie-Gamelin (known informally as Berri Square, french: Square Berri) is a city square in central Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was created to mark the 350th anniversary of the city. Bordered by Berri Street, Saint Hubert Street, Sainte Cat ...

(also called Berri Square) in which the entrance is located. The statue is owned by the City of Montreal. The most recent art piece put in place inside the station is the Wall of Peace on the concourse level of the Yellow Line. It consists of coloured metal plates bearing the word "peace" in multiple languages.

Origin of the name

Berri–UQAM is named for both Berri Street, so called since 1663, and for the

. The university has taken to using UQAM as its abbreviation, which it displays as UQÀM (with a

grave accent The grave accent () ( or ) is a diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and many other western European languages, as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other languages using t ...

over the ''A'' as its logo; the station retains the UQAM form). Until 1988, the station was named Berri-de-Montigny; rue de Montigny is the former name of boulevard de Maisonneuve in this area. Small stubs of de Montigny street still survive in Downtown Montreal between

Saint Laurent Boulevard Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as Saint Lawrence Boulevard (officially in french: boulevard Saint-Laurent), is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north–south through ...

and

Saint Urbain Street Saint Urbain Street (french: rue Saint-Urbain) is a major one-way street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The original, southernmost section of the street was built by Urbain Tessier (c. 1624–1689), a farmer and carpenter who settled in t ...

and in the Montréal-Est suburb.

Connections

The station is served by several STM bus routes.

Gare d'autocars de Montréal Gare d'autocars de Montréal ( en, Montreal Coach Terminal) is a bus terminal located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the departure and arrival point for most inter-city buses. Nearly 300 buses serve the terminal per day. The station is conne ...

, Montreal's main intercity bus terminal, is located close to the station.

Société de transport de Montréal

Nearby points of interest

Connected via the underground city

Grande Bibliothèque The Grande Bibliothèque is a public library in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its collection is part of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), Quebec's national library. Membership in the library is free to all resident ...

Other

Cégep du Vieux Montréal Cégep du Vieux Montréal is a CEGEP (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel, or College of General and Vocational Education) located at 255 Ontario Street East, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The College of General and Vocational Edu ...

* Hôpital Saint-Luc du CHUM *

Cinémathèque québécoise The Cinémathèque québécoise is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its purpose is to preserve, document, film and television footage and related documents and artifacts for future use by the public. The Cinémathèque's collectio ...

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

("Berri Square") *

Théâtre Saint-Denis Théâtre Saint-Denis is a theatre located on Saint Denis Street in Montreal, Quebec, in the city's Quartier Latin. A movie theatre built in 1915 by Anglin-Norcross Ltd., the Théâtre Saint-Denis' mission changed in the 1980s and has since focu ...

*Cinéma du Quartier-Latin *

Service Canada Service Canada is the program operated by Employment and Social Development Canada to serve as a single-point of access for the Government of Canada's largest and most heavily used programs, such as the Social Insurance Number, the Employment ...

* Métropolis

History

Station refurbishment

Accessibility

Overview

Station layout

Architecture and art

Artwork

Origin of the name

Connections

Société de transport de Montréal

Nearby points of interest

Connected via the underground city

Other

References

External links