Blainville Line (AMT)

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F59PHI Locomotive at Sainte-Therese station

The Blainville line is a commuter rail line operated in the Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada area, by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, or AMT, (in English, the "Metropolitan transportation agency"), the umbrella organization that plans, integrates, and coordinates public transportation services across this region.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Future projects
4 List of stations
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Overview

This line links the Lucien-L'Allier station in downtown Montreal with Blainville, on Montreal's North Shore. More than 2000 Park and Ride spaces are available for commuters.

The line offers service on weekdays only. With service every 25–45 minutes during rush hour and every two hours outside of rush hour, and only 5 departures to and from Lucien L'Allier station. All other departures are to and from Parc metro station. Although most departes are to and from Parc Station, transit users can use the 935 Trainbus to get a ride downtown (in the Mornings) and back to Parc station (in the afternoons).

Today, more than 9,000 people ride this train daily.

[edit] History

The Montreal/Blainville line was originally opened in July 1997 and was supposed to serve commuters during the construction on the Marius-Dufresne bridge. Although it only offered 3 departures per day (two peak, one reverse peak), it instantly became very successful. In 1997, there were only 4 stations: Blainville, Sainte-Therese, Saint-Martin, and Jean-Talon (now Parc). The stations were merly wooden platforms with gravel parking lots; not too much money was spent because the line wasn't permanent. Service increased in September 1997 to 6 departures per day (four peak, 2 reverse peak) and stations were added at Saint-Rose and Henri-Bourassa) (now Bois-de-Boulogne). A station at Rosemere was built in 1998.

In order to make the operation successful, buses were used to carry passengers from areas around the stations in Blainville and Sainte-Therese. These buses came from the CIT des Basses-Laurentides (now CIT Laurentides). In Montreal STCUM (now STM) buses were used from the Jean-Talon Station to downtown Montreal (Guy-Concordia) metro station (The 935 Trainbus Blainville / Centreville).

In 1999, the STCUM had problems with a number of buses in their Nova LFS fleet, pulling them off the roads completely. To cope with the situation the AMT decided to extend the service from Parc metro directly downtown to Gare Windsor (now Lucien L'Allier Terminus).

In late 2003 the line added a stop at Montreal-Ouest, having passed through the station, but never stopping. In April 2006, a proposed Station in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Chabanel, was formally announced. Service was originally supposed to start in September, however the service hasn't yet started at this station.

As of October 5, 2006, AMT leased 8 bilevel coaches and one F59PH locomotive from GO Transit to help cope with increased ridership since on Overpass collapsed in Laval. On November 10, 2006, the train was returned to GO Transit.

On October 18th, 2006, the AMT opened a new station, Vimont, to again help after the overpass collapse.

[edit] Future projects

The Blainville line will be extended to Saint-Jérôme, with an intermediate station in Mirabel by the end of December 2006. Only 4 of the 11 trains will depart from Saint-Jerome^[1]. The rest will terminate (or begin) at Blainville. Two new stations on the existing line are also under construction:

De La Concorde in Laval, an intermodal Commuter train and metro station; set to open with the opening of the metro in July 2007
Chabanel in Ahuntsic-Cartierville; no official date yet, will probably open with Saint-Jerome extension.

[edit] List of stations

The following stations are on the Blainville line:

Station	Location	Connections
Lucien-L'Allier	Montreal	Downtown Terminus (Terminus RTL), Lucien-L'Allier metro station, Société de transport de Montréal (STM) 36 (On rue Saint-Antoine), 150, 358, 410, 430, 535 (On boul.René Lévesque).
Vendôme	Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce	(connection to Vendôme metro station) STM 17, 37, 90, 102, 104, 105, 124.
Montréal-Ouest	Montreal West	STM 51, 90 (250 metres south on rue Saint-Jacques), 105, 123, 162.
Parc	Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension	STM 16, 80, 92, 93, 365, 372, 535, 935.
Chabanel (future)	Ahuntsic-Cartierville	STM 54, 135, 146.
Bois-de-Boulogne	Ahuntsic-Cartierville	STM 135, 164, 171, 180, 380. STL Routes 44, 46, 55.
De La Concorde (under Construction)	Laval	STL currently 35 (One block west on Laval Avenue), 37, 40, 42, 61. [1]
Saint-Martin		STL 33 (South bound only, northbound is a stiff walk east along boul. Saint-Martin to avenue Bois-de-Boulogne [2]),35 (One block west on Industriel Avenue),37 (One Block west on Industriel Avenue),39, 50, 60.
Vimont		STL 405 [3]
Sainte-Rose		STL 72, 151 (1.5 kilometres west on Dufferin Street, provides connection to Cote Vertu metro station).
Rosemère	Rosemère	CIT Laurentides Routes: 12, 17, 22
Sainte-Thérèse	Sainte-Thérèse	CIT Laurentides Routes: 9, 11, 18, 21, 22, 23, 27, 50, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 88 (Connection to Deux-Montagnes station). MRC Les Moulins: 23
Blainville	Blainville	CIT Laurentides Route 10
Saint-Jérôme	Saint-Jérôme	CIT Laurentides Routes .