Two metro stations open elevators
Outremont and Saint-Henri metro stations have just opened elevators, but – as this piece points out – after the next two stations are equipped, the project to make all the stations accessible will stop for lack of funding.
Ian 23:06 on 2024-12-23 Permalink
I’m just amazed Outremont metro is finally finished. It’s been years.
Orr 13:22 on 2024-12-24 Permalink
Retrofitting an elevator to the Metro stations is not an easy, simple, or inexpensive job.
As we come up to the 60th anniversary of our very nice Mêtro system, I just watched the Les Chantiers documentary series of Montreal mega-projects episode on the building of the Metro system (dvds at Grande Bibliotheque). Building the Metro was a true mega-project.
Before the Metro was built some people argued that car tunnels would be better than a subway system.
At one point some other people proposed a combination metro + elevator to give access to the top of parc Mont Royal from downtown, it was to be called the Montmetro. If you ever look at Gazettes from 1923 you will learn that in 1923 the ville de Montreal decided aftert much debate that the city needed either an elevated railway or a subway. And then 40ish years later, we got the subway.
Kate 13:51 on 2024-12-24 Permalink
It’s a pity the original metro system was not architecturally conceived with the future possibility of elevators in mind, even if it had opened without them at first.
The next two stations will be Atwater and Édouard-Montpetit, the latter of which will link the metro to the REM. But it’s the elevator from metro level down to the chthonic depths of the REM that will be crucial. I bet there will be some people afraid of it, at least at first.
DeWolf 17:26 on 2024-12-24 Permalink
It’s understandable why elevators weren’t installed in the 1960s. Accessibility wasn’t really on the radar back then. But all of the stations built in the 1980s – that was a deliberate choice to save money. Most other rapid transit systems built from that time onwards, including the Vancouver SkyTrain, were fully accessible.
Kate 18:18 on 2024-12-24 Permalink
The London Underground has had some elevators since the 1880s, according to what I see online. But the Paris Metro has only had them relatively recently – and our system was built in emulation of Paris, although the designers must have been aware that elevators were an option.
Accessibility really wasn’t on the public mind. At the very least, you’d think they could’ve made, say, McGill, Berri‑de Montigny and Atwater accessible, as well as Île Sainte‑Hélène, given the importance of the initial metro system to Expo 67. But nope.
thomas 19:07 on 2024-12-25 Permalink
The London Underground was largely constructed using deep-level tunnelling resulting in stations far below the surface, thus necessitating the use of elevators. The Paris Metro was constructed using the trenches that were then covered (Paris has a tricky terrain making deep excavation a challenge) so the station are relatively shallow and stairs considered sufficient.
Kate 19:29 on 2024-12-25 Permalink
Right, and hence the use of some London stations as bomb shelters during WWII. You wouldn’t get much protection from shallowly cut stations like Angrignon or Champ‑de‑Mars.