Green line to have old metro cars as of 2031
Currently, the metro’s blue line is still running with MR‑73 cars, but when the extension is completed, in or around 2031, its new control technology won’t be compatible. The plan is to switch the green line’s Azur cars to the blue line, giving the green line the old cars, far more prone to breakdowns.
Projet Montréal is not happy about this prospect, but unless Quebec loosens the purse strings to buy more trains, it’s a done deal.
R T 10:56 on 2026-08-06 Permalink
The Azur trains went from final procurement to first delivery in six years (with procurement itself being a four-year mishegas), so even if they ordered trains tomorrow, we probably wouldn’t receive them in time for even a delayed Blue Line extension opening.
The bigger issue to me is that the procurement should have been integral to the entire project. (Frankly, I see the entire project as a mismanaged mistake that was prioritized for politics rather than practicality.)
Major Annoyance 11:08 on 2026-08-06 Permalink
Ugh. I mostly use the green line so this’ll be a step backwards.
This raises the question of whether they’ll run full-length Azur trains on the blue line or short trains as at present. If the STM chooses to stick with short trains, they’ll end up with a bunch of useless rolling stock as I doubt they have the spare end cars needed to make two short trains out of each full-length one.
Kate 11:19 on 2026-08-06 Permalink
Probably they expect demand on the extended blue line to build to a level where running full‑length trains makes sense.
James 09:57 on 2026-08-07 Permalink
In the future the blue line will only have 9-car Azur. It doesn’t make sense to remove cars to make a shorter train as there are no spare end cars sitting around.
The choice by the STM to equip the blue line with the new CBTC signalling technology has the consequence of requiring only Azur on the line as it doesn’t make sense to equip the older end-of-life trains with the new signalling system.
Major Annoyance 15:39 on 2026-08-07 Permalink
Thanks, James. The Q&A section of the STM’s page on the new control system confirms that. The platforms of Saint Michel station will be extended to accommodate the full-length MR-73s.
https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-projects/train-control-system
Even with the longer trains, I suspect the blue line will always be runt of the litter.