Montreal’s transit agency is launching a series of festivities to mark the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the underground metro. On Tuesday, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) unveiled a full program of events under the theme “60 ans de métro-moments” (60 years of metro moments in English) and is calling on residents to share their own moments via an online form over the next several. The stories will be compiled into a collective artwork to be unveiled on the milestone anniversary on Oct. 14. The Montreal Alouettes, CF Montreal, the Montreal Canadiens, Piknic Électronik, RNB Connexion, Alexandra Strélinski and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra are among the organizations participating in the festivities. “Metro-moments are all those little and big stories that happen every day in the metro,” said Marie-Claude Léonard, CEO of the STM. Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said in a news release: “Sixty years ago, Montreal made the ambitious choice to build a path underground to open up new possibilities above ground. The metro brought our neighbourhoods closer together, provided access to jobs, education, businesses and culture, and supported the economic development of our metropolis.” She added that at the next council meeting on Aug. 24, the city will adopt a declaration to recognize the metro’s contribution to the development and profile of Montreal over the last six decades. The full program for the 60th anniversary is available at stm.info/60ansmetro. The STM is also selling made-in-Canada metro merch (t-shirts, sweaters, caps, and bags) in the 60th anniversary colours, with illustrations by La Charbonne, from Sept. 23 to Oct. 19. Proceeds will be donated to Centraide of Greater Montreal for organizations working with the homeless population and to Réchaud-bus, a food assistance organization that works with youth in disadvantaged communities. The transit agency also added a new section to its website chronicling the history of the Montreal metro. History of the Montreal metro Here are some key dates: Oct. 20, 1961: presentation of the preliminary design, which envisaged three lines (an east-west line, Line 1 (green); a north-south line, Line 2 (orange); and a line running beneath Mount Royal, Line 3). Nov. 3, 1961: Montreal City Council approved funding of 132 million dollars for the construction of the metro. April and May 1962: the first contract was awarded in April 1962 and, on May 23, work began on Berri Street, south of Jarry Street. Oct. 14, 1966: the network’s first 20 stations were inaugurated in the presence of Mayor Drapeau and Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger. March 1971: the metro ran through the night for the first time as Montreal was paralyzed by the “storm of the century.” Oct. 14, 1971: work began on extending the metro, exactly five years after it first opened. 1974: Bombardier was awarded the contract to manufacture 423 MR-73 metro cars, which were delivered from July 1976 onwards and entered service in December of the same year. 1976: the Green Line was extended to Honoré-Beaugrand station in June, then to Angrignon station in September 1978. Meanwhile, automatic driving was introduced from November 1976. The 1980s: the Orange Line was extended in successive stages from 1980 to 1986, while the Blue Line came into service between 1986 and 1988. In 1981, Lisette Renaud became the first woman to drive a metro train. Sept. 11, 1984: Pope John Paul II’s visit brought a record number of passengers, with two million people using the metro and buses in a single day. The 1990s: the first park-and-ride facility near a metro station was built at Radisson station. That same year saw the introduction of neighbourhood maps in all metro stations. The first multi-service centre opened at Berri-UQAM station in 1993, enhancing customer service. The commuter rail lines to Deux-Montagnes and Rigaud, having been fully modernized, were transferred in 1996 to the newly formed Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT). The 2000s: work on extending the Orange Line to Laval began on March 18, 2002. The new stations – Cartier, de la Concorde and Montmorency – were officially opened on April 26, 2007. Meanwhile, in 2004, the STM launched Phase 1 of its Réno-Systèmes programme, aimed at maintaining the reliability of the metro’s fixed equipment. The decade ended with the award of the contract to manufacture 468 MPM-10 cars to the Bombardier-Alstom consortium. With files from Noovo Info
