The Orange Line (french: Ligne orange) is the longest and first-planned of the four subway lines of the
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, ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
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 thirte ...
, Canada. It formed part of the initial network, and was extended from 1980 to 1986. On April 28, 2007, three new stations in
Laval opened making it the second line to leave
Montreal Island
The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...
.
The Orange Line measures in length and counts 31 stations. It is the longest subway line in Montreal and the second-longest in Canada after the
Line 1 Yonge–University
Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line on the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is in length, making it th ...
of the
Toronto subway
The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rail ...
. Like the rest of the Metro network, it is entirely underground. The line runs in a U-shape from
Côte-Vertu in western Montreal to
Montmorency in
Laval, northwest of Montreal.
History
The line was planned to run between
Crémazie and
Place-d'Armes.
Work on the Orange Line began on May 23, 1962 on
Berri Street just south of
Jarry Street
Rue Jarry (french: rue Jarry) is a street on the Island of Montreal which stretches from Boulevard de l'Acadie in the west to Boulevard Ray-Lawson to the east. It is named for settler of St. Laurent, Quebec Bernard Bleignier dit Jarry.
The s ...
.
In November 1962, the city of Montreal learned that it had been awarded the
1967 International and Universal Exposition (commonly known as Expo 67). To better meet the anticipated demand for transit during Expo 67, it was decided on August 6, 1963 to add the
Sauvé and
Henri-Bourassa stations in the north, and the
Square-Victoria-OACI and
Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister G ...
stations in the south.
On October 14, 1966, the section between Henri-Bourassa and Place-d'Armes opened, forming part of the original Metro network. Completion of smaller sections were delayed by several months. On February 6, 1967, the segment from Place-d'Armes to Square-Victoria-OACI opened, followed on February 13, 1967, by Bonaventure.
Prior to the inauguration of the initial network, extensions were proposed in all directions, including the
West Island
The West Island () is the unofficial name given to the cities, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Dorval, Pointe-Cla ...
. In its 1967 Urban Plan, entitled "Horizon 2000",
the city of Montreal planned to build a network of almost by the end of the twentieth century. On February 12, 1971, the council of the
Montreal Urban Community authorized the borrowing of
C$430 million to extend the Metro. This amount increased to C$665 million in 1973, and to C$1.6 billion in 1975. This expansion plan included the costs of extending the Orange Line westward, a distance of , adding 16 new stations, as well as the construction of a new garage. The terminus station, Salaberry, would have been an intermodal station with
Bois-Franc commuter rail station.
From the beginning, the plan was to expand the Metro to the northwest, but massive cost overruns on the expansion of the
Green Line in preparation for the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 ...
, led to several years of delays, including a moratorium on underground expansions in 1976. To cut costs, three planned stations (Poirier, Bois-Franc, De Salaberry) and a maintenance workshop at the end of the track were eliminated.
In 1979, the Minister of Transport,
Denis de Belleval, proposed to complete the subway extension to
Du Collège and to extend the rest of the line above ground. This transportation plan was rejected by the mayors of the Montreal Urban Community. The moratorium was lifted in February 1981, with a new agreement that approved the construction of one additional station,
Côte-Vertu. Du Collège was considered inappropriate to play the role of a terminus.
The western segment was constructed in the 1980s and was opened in several stages. On April 28, 1980, it was extended from
Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister G ...
to
Place-Saint-Henri. From there, the line was extended to
Snowdon
Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (histori ...
on September 7, 1981, on January 4, 1982 to
Côte-Sainte-Catherine, on June 29, 1982 to
Plamondon, on January 9, 1984 to
Du Collège, and finally on November 3, 1986 to the western terminus of
Côte-Vertu.
Laval extension
After a break of more than two decades of expansion, the eastern segment was extended from Henri-Bourassa by three stations into the city of
Laval. The section required digging a tunnel under the
Rivière des Prairies. The three stations were
Cartier,
De la Concorde and
Montmorency. Montmorency station is near
Collège Montmorency
Collège Montmorency is a public college in Chomedey, Laval, Quebec, Canada, near the Montmorency Metro station. As of 2015, there were over 7,000 full-time students enrolled.
History
In 1967, several institutions were merged and became public ...
and the Laval campus of the
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...
.
The Laval extension was inaugurated on April 26, 2007, and it opened to the public on April 28. It was completely financed by the
Government of Quebec
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
, which mandated for the former (AMT) (now
ARTM) to realize the project. The STM acted as a subcontractor for the AMT and was responsible for the installation of fixed equipment. The project extended the Orange Line by , not including the depot past Montmorency, at a cost of roughly C$143.27 million/km, which is slightly below the average cost for Metro extensions in other major cities. The total cost of the extension was $745 million.
To that amount, $12.4 million was added in 2008 to build a second entrance to Cartier station in Libellules Park, located northeast of the intersection of des Laurentides and Cartier.
Accessibility
All three stations in Laval were built to be wheelchair accessible, with elevators and other features for disabled persons. They were the first accessible stations on the Metro.
In the 2010s and 2020s, older stations were
retrofitted to be made accessible, with the installation of elevators. As of 2022, 16 of the 31 Orange Line stations are accessible, with plans for all stations to be made accessible by the late 2030s.
Platform edge doors
In 2019, the STM announced plans to install
platform edge doors
Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail s ...
on the Orange Line, to improve safety and reduce passenger incidents (dropped objects, falls etc). The 2021-2030 Capital Expenditure Program estimated the project would cost around $560m. Due to financial difficulties following the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, the project was cancelled in 2022.
Future extensions
In the medium term, there are plans for the Orange Line to be further extended toward the northwest from
Côte-Vertu. The extension would include two new stations: Poirier and Bois-Franc. The latter would create a transportation hub with the
existing Bois-Franc station on 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 ...
's
Deux-Montagnes line.
After the extension of the line into Laval,
Gilles Vaillancourt
Gilles Vaillancourt (born January 9, 1941) is a former Canadian politician. He served as the mayor of Laval, Quebec, from June 8, 1989 until November 9, 2012, when he was charged, and ultimately found guilty, with corruption and fraud. During t ...
, a former mayor of Laval, suggested for a further six stations to be added to the line. Three of them would be in Laval and three in Montreal, which would together turn the Orange Line into a loop. In 2011, the City of Laval proposed adding eight more stations to the line, including five in Laval, to complete the loop and to serve the
Carrefour Laval
Carrefour Laval (corporately styled as "CF Carrefour Laval") is a super regional shopping mall in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the Chomedey neighbourhood of the city at the intersection of Autoroute des Laurentides (Laurentian Expre ...
terminus.
On 18 June 2019, the approved a report for extending the Orange Line by 6.4 km to the north and east of the current
Côte-Vertu terminus in
St-Laurent to
Montmorency station in
Laval, which would create a
loop
Loop or LOOP may refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live
* Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets
* Loop Mobile, an ...
. Five new stations would be built located at Poirier Street,
Bois-Franc, and Gouin Boulevard in Montreal, and at Chomedey and Notre-Dame Boulevard near
Autoroute 15 in Laval. The extension would cost an estimated $4.5 billion and put the project in line with the estimated $4.5-billion cost of the
Blue Line extension to
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
*County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duke ...
.
Infrastructure
Maintenance
The Metro trains are stored in the Saint-Charles Garage, north of Henri-Bourassa station, and in the garage at Montmorency station for passenger cars. They are maintained at the Plateau d'Youville, which is located between Crémazie and Sauvé stations. , which is connected to the Green Line, is used for maintenance of way equipment. The Snowdon tail tracks and connecting track, which is connected to the Blue Line, is also used for maintenance of way equipment.
A new garage was built immediately north of
Côte-Vertu station that opened in March 2022, expanding the capacity of the Orange line by 25% and reducing wait time between trains from 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 2 minutes across the entire line.
Rolling stock
At the line's opening in 1966,
MR-63 cars were used on the Orange Line. In the early 1980s,
MR-73 cars replaced the older MR-63 cars, which were used again on the Green Line. Introduced in 1976, the MR-73 is the second generation of high-performance Metro cars, identified by rectangular cab headlights, blue and dark orange interiors, 124 kW (166 hp) traction motors that growl while they accelerate out of a station, side vents, and a unique three-note sound signature when the train pulls out of a station.
With the introduction of the newer
MPM-10 trains in 2016, the MR-73 trains in service on the line were gradually transferred over to the Green, Yellow, and Blue Lines. On 20 June 2018, a decorated MR-63 train gave a final "farewell tour" of the Orange Line before the model was retired from the entire system the following day. All remaining MR-73 cars operating on the line had been transferred over to the other lines by the end of 2018.
List of stations
See also
*
Green Line
*
Yellow Line
*
Blue Line
*
Red Line (Line 3)
*
List of Montreal Metro stations
References
External links
2008 STM System Map
{{Crossings navbox
, structure = Crossings
, place =
Rivière des Prairies
, bridge =
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, ...
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 ...
between
Henri-Bourassa and
Cartier
, bridge signs =
, upstream =
Bordeaux Railway BridgeCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
Quebec Gatineau Railway
Chemins de fer Québec-Gatineau Inc. (CFQG), in English the Quebec Gatineau Railway is a shortline railway operating the long ex-Canadian Pacific Railway line between Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Laval, Lachute and Gatineau, formerly Hull. I ...
RTM Saint-Jerome line
, upstream signs =
, downstream =
Ahuntsic Bridge
, downstream signs =
Transport in Laval, Quebec
1966 establishments in Quebec
Rapid transit lines in Canada