Lucien L'Allier (1909 - 1978) was a Canadian engineer who is best known for having built 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, ...

, the city's subway system.

Early life

Born in the suburb of Saint-Laurent,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...

he studied with the

Frères des écoles chrétiennes french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal Collège Sainte-Marie was a college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It ceased to exist in 1969, when it was merged into UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). History Collège Ste-Marie was founded by Jesuits in 1848. It had an English sect ...

and

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, from which he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering.

Career

In 1935, he took part in a three-year project working on the telephone networks of

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

, and later worked for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...

as regional engineer until 1946. In 1946, he joined the staff of the city of Montreal, and became the city's engineering director in 1954. In 1961 the construction of the Montreal Metro began. He supervised a construction project with 5000 workers. McGill University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1964. The same year, he was appointed Chairman of the Montreal Transit Commission, a position he held until his retirement in 1974.

Legacy

After his death in 1978, a Metro

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was renamed in his honor. Rue de l'Aqueduc, north of rue Saint-Jacques, became rue Lucien-L'Allier in 1979. In 2001, 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 ...

railway Lucien-L'Allier station adjacent to the Metro station was also renamed.

References

*http://www.stm.info/metro/m16.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:L'allier, Lucien 1909 births 1978 deaths Canadian electrical engineers Montreal Metro People from Saint-Laurent, Quebec McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni