Central Station (Montreal)

This article is about the railway station in Montreal. For the bus station, see Station Centrale d'Autobus Montreal.

Central Station Gare Centrale Via Rail, Amtrak (Inter-city) AMT (Commuter)
Exterior of the station concourse.
Station statistics
Address	895 rue de La Gauchetière Ouest Montreal, Quebec
Coordinates	45°29′59″N 73°34′00″W / 45.4996°N 73.5668°W / 45.4996; -73.5668Coordinates: 45°29′59″N 73°34′00″W / 45.4996°N 73.5668°W / 45.4996; -73.5668
Connections	Bonaventure (Montreal Metro)   STM transit bus service
Structure	At-grade
Platforms	Below-grade
Tracks	14 (covered)
Parking	yes
Bicycle facilities	yes
Baggage check	yes
Other information
Opened	1943
Rebuilt	1960s (Place Bonaventure)
Electrified	Partially, Tracks 9-12 (catenary at 25 kV AC 60 Hz)
Accessible
Code	MTRL (Via Rail), MTR (Amtrak), YMY (IATA)
Owned by	Homburg Invest Inc.[1] (since November 30, 2007), CN (1943-2007)
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	77,875[2](Amtrak) 8,226,700 (AMT Total)
Services
Preceding station   Via Rail   Following station Terminus Montreal – Senneterre train Ahuntsic toward Senneterre Montreal – Jonquière train Ahuntsic toward Jonquière Ocean Saint-Lambert toward Halifax Montreal – Gaspé train Saint-Lambert toward Gaspé Montreal–Quebec Saint-Lambert toward Quebec Ottawa–Montreal Dorval toward Fallowfield Toronto–Montreal Dorval toward Toronto Amtrak Terminus Adirondack Saint-Lambert toward New York City AMT Canora toward Deux-Montagnes Deux-Montagnes Terminus Terminus Mont-Saint-Hilaire Saint-Lambert toward Mont-Saint-Hilaire Canora toward Mascouche Repentigny–Mascouche (future) Terminus

Central Station (French: Gare Centrale) (IATA: YMY) is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 18 million rail passengers use the station every year.^[3]

Designed by John Campbell Merrett, the main concourse is located on rue de la Gauchetière West and occupies almost the entire block bounded by de la Gauchetière, University Street, René-Lévesque Boulevard and Mansfield Street. The station is adorned with art deco bas-relief friezes on its interior and exterior.^[4] The station building and associated properties are owned by Homburg Invest Inc. as of November 30, 2007. Prior to that, from the station's inception in 1943, it had been owned by Canadian National Railway (CN).

Central Station is at the centre of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, the busiest inter-city rail service area in the nation (marketed as the Corridor), which extends from Windsor and Sarnia in the west, through Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, to Quebec City in the east. Inter-city trains at Central Station are operated by Via Rail and Amtrak, while commuter rail services are operated by Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT). The station is also connected to the Montreal Metro subway system.

Central Station is the second-busiest Via Rail station in Canada, after Toronto Union Station. Its Via station code is MTRL; its Amtrak code is MTR, and its IATA code is YMY.

Services

Via Rail

• Montreal – Senneterre train to Shawinigan, La Tuque and Senneterre
• Montreal – Gaspé train to Charny, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Carleton, New Carlisle, Chandler, Percé and Gaspé
• Montreal-Quebec City to Saint-Lambert, Drummondville, Sainte-Foy and Quebec City
• Ocean to Charny, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Campbellton, Bathurst, Miramichi, Moncton and Halifax
• Ottawa-Montreal to Alexandria and Ottawa
• Montreal – Jonquière train to Shawinigan, Chambord, and Jonquière
• Toronto-Montreal to Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville, Oshawa and Toronto

Amtrak

• Adirondack to Plattsburgh, Albany and New York City

AMT

• Deux-Montagnes Line
• Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line
• Repentigny-Mascouche Line (future)

History

Central Station sits above and next to the site of the now-demolished Canadian Northern Railway's Tunnel Terminal.

At the end of the 1920s, the newly formed Canadian National Railways struggled with disparate Montreal terminals (Bonaventure Station, Tunnel Terminal, Moreau Street Station, and McGill Street) and sought to consolidate them. The solution chosen was to take advantage of the Mount Royal Tunnel to bring trains from the north and east through the tunnel to a large electrified central station. Trains from the south and west gained access by a new elevated viaduct. (Interurban electric trains, however, ended up remaining at McGill Street terminal until the service was abandoned in 1956.) The new station plan allowed for the development of air-rights, similar to Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in New York City.

Construction started at the end of the 1920s, but was halted during the Great Depression. Construction resumed during World War II and the new station finally opened on July 14, 1943, as the first of a series of large-scale urban redevelopment projects undertaken by CNR and the federal government in Downtown Montreal. Central Station was designed by architect John Campbell Merrett.

The opening of a 'central' station was part of a consolidation project undertaken by CNR since 1929 with the enactment of the Canadian National Montreal Terminals Act, 1929 by Parliament; this saw the closure of former temporary stations operated by CNR predecessors Grand Trunk (Bonaventure Station) and Canadian Northern.

Central Station was an important passenger station for CN trains from 1943 until the creation of Via Rail in 1978. Following Via's full absorption of CP's passenger trains in 1978, intercity rail traffic from Windsor Station was slowly consolidated at Central Station. The final Via trains switched from Windsor Station to Central Station were the Quebec City trains that operated by way of Trois-Rivières (April 29, 1984). Amtrak's Adirondack was switched to Central Station on January 12, 1986.

On September 3, 1984, a pipe bomb exploded inside a Central Station locker, killing 3 people and injuring 30 more. The bomb was alleged to have been set by retired American armed forces officer Thomas Bernard Brigham, who claimed^{[citation needed]} to have been protesting Pope John Paul II's visit to Canada.

Public transit connections

The main concourse inside Central Station

Metro

Main article: Montreal Metro

• Bonaventure (Orange Line)^[5]
• Square-Victoria (Orange Line)
• McGill (Green Line) by way of Place Ville Marie and Eaton Centre)

STM buses

Main article: Société de transport de Montréal

STM regular routes
No.	Route Name[6]	Route Map	Schedule
36	Monk	Map	Schedule
61	Wellington	Map	Schedule
74	Bridge	Map	Schedule
75	de la Commune	Map	Schedule
107	Verdun (2 blocks west on boul. René Lévesque ouest / rue Peel)	Map	Schedule
150	René-Lévesque (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
168	Cité du Havre	Map	Schedule
410	Express Notre-Dame (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
420	Express Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
430	Express Pointe-aux-trembles (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
480	Pointe-Nord-Île-des-Sœurs (University Street / de La Gauchetière Street or on René Lévesque Boulevard)	Map	Schedule
515	Old Port/Old Montreal (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
535	Voie réservée Du Parc / Côte-des-Neiges (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
747	Airport Express 24/7 (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map Map	Schedule Schedule
STM night routes
No.	Route Name	Route Map	Schedule
358	Sainte-Catherine (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
747	Airport Express, 24/7 (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map Map	Schedule Schedule

AMT buses

Food court Les Halles de la gare

Main article: Agence métropolitaine de transport

No.	Route Name	Route Map	Schedule
935	Trainbus Blainville / Centreville (on boul. René-Lévesque ouest)	Map	Afternoon schedule

Other connecting buses

Main article: Terminus Centre-Ville (AMT)

• RTL and inter municipal buses

Connecting facilities

Central Station is located adjacent to CN Headquarters and is an important link in the underground city, with tunnels to Place Ville-Marie, Place Bonaventure, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, 1000 de La Gauchetière and the Bonaventure metro station.

The station includes Les Halles de la Gare, a shopping and restaurant complex. It also contains two parking facilities, one of which is a multi-level facility that is located above the station. The Montreal Planetarium is located nearby.

References

1. ^ Homburg Canada
2. ^ "Montreal, QC (MTR)". GreatAmericanStations.com. 2011. http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/MTR/Station_view. Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.admtl.com/flashplayer/fr.html?fichier=AEROTRAIN_FINAL_ANG.mp4&largeur=711&hauteur=475
4. ^ Art Deco Montreal, Tour of Central Station
5. ^ Bonaventure Station
6. ^ STM regular routes

External links

• Via Rail station page for Central Station (Montreal)
• AMT station page, Deux-Montagnes Line (in French)
• AMT station page, Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line (in French)
• Montreal Via & Amtrak Station (Train Web) (in English)