Mont-Saint-Hilaire (also designated exo3) is a commuter railway line in

Greater Montreal Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montréal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is operated by

Exo Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

, the operator of

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

services across this region. The Mont-Saint-Hilaire line was operated by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN) between 1859 and 1988. The line was not active until Exo's predecessor agency, the Agence Métropolitaine de transport (AMT), resumed passenger service in 2000. There are 7 inbound and 7 outbound departures per weekday. This line does not run on weekends.

Overview

This line links the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

in downtown Montreal with

Mont-Saint-Hilaire Mont-Saint-Hilaire () is an off-island suburb of Montreal in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 18,200. The cit ...

, on Montreal's South Shore. The line offers seven departures every weekday morning towards Montreal and seven returns to Saint-Hilaire every weekday evening. It is also the only commuter train line not to have any train stations on the island of

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 ...

outside of Downtown Montreal. All the other train lines have at least 4 stops before leaving the island. The trains are owned and managed by Exo, and operated by Bombardier's Transportation division. Today, over 9,000 people ride this train daily.

History

CN service

This commuter route was opened by CN in 1859. Equipment in the late 1960s and early 1970s, operated once daily each direction, was a hodgepodge of ca 1930 coaches and an equally eclectic mix of yard switchers, freight and passenger diesel electric engines. Service was suspended in 1988, due to low ridership and old equipment used.

Central Station – Saint-Isidore shuttle service

During the

Oka Crisis The Oka Crisis (french: links=no, Crise d'Oka), also known as the Kanehsatà:ke Resistance (), was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada, which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted 78 days until Septe ...

in the summer of 1990, the Société de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM) organised a temporary rail shuttle service between Montreal Central Station and the town of Saint-Isidore due to the closure of the

Honoré Mercier Bridge The Honoré Mercier Bridge in Quebec, Canada, connects the Montreal borough of LaSalle on the Island of Montreal with the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake, Quebec and the suburb of Châteauguay on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It is th ...

during said crisis. That service used part of the present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire line between Montreal Central Station and Saint-Lambert station via Victoria Bridge, and then branched off to the CN Rouses Point Subdivision towards Saint-Isidore.

AMT service

The Mont-Saint-Hilaire line was re-opened in 2000 (between Montreal Central Station and McMasterville) by the AMT as a measure to mitigate traffic congestion caused by roadwork. Train service was progressively increased to respond to rapidly growing demand. The line was extended to its current terminus at Mont-Saint-Hilaire in 2002.

RTM/Exo service

On June 1, 2017, the AMT was dissolved and replaced by two new governing bodies, the

Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM; en, Metropolitan Regional Transportation Authority) is an umbrella organization that manages and integrates road transport and public transport in Greater Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The ...

(ARTM) and the

Réseau de transport métropolitain Exo, officially known as Réseau de transport métropolitain (RTM; en, Metropolitan Transportation Network), is a public transport system in Greater Montreal, including the Island of Montreal, Laval (Île Jésus), and communities along both t ...

(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 Mont-Saint-Hilaire line became Exo 3, and its line colour was updated to a lighter pastel shade of violet.

List of stations

The following stations are on the Mont-Saint-Hilaire line: The commuter line operates over the following Canadian National subdivision: * Saint-Hyacinthe Subdivision (between St-Hilaire 4.2and Montreal 4.1

References

External links

Official RTM website
{{RTM rail system Exo commuter rail lines Rail transport in Montérégie Railway lines opened in 2000 Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Transport in Saint-Lambert, Quebec Transport in Longueuil Transport in Montreal Railway lines opened in 1859 1859 establishments in Canada La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality