Mont Royal tunnel
| Mont Royal tunnel | ||||
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 South-east end of the tunnel in the Gare Centrale
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| use | Railway tunnel | |||
| traffic connection | Suburban transport Montreal lines Gare Centrale - - Deux-Montagnes - Mascouche |
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| place | Montreal | |||
| length | 4.8 km | |||
| Number of tubes | 2 | |||
| construction | ||||
| Client | Mount Royal Tunnel and Terminal Company | |||
| building-costs | 5 million CAD | |||
| start of building | 1912 | |||
| completion | 1916 | |||
| business | ||||
| operator | AMT | |||
| release | October 21, 1918 | |||
| Railway facilities in Montreal | ||||
 Mont-Royal tunnel and route to Deux-Montagnes in red
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| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| South portal | 45 ° 30 ′ 6 ″ N , 73 ° 34 ′ 12 ″ W. | |||
| North portal | 45 ° 30 ′ 49 " N , 73 ° 37 ′ 58" W. | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Mont Royal Tunnel, French Tunnel sous le mont Royal or Tunnel du mont Royal , English Mount Royal Tunnel , is a railway tunnel in the city of Montreal in the Canadian province of Quebec . Opened in 1918, the tunnel crosses under Mont Royal , the city's local mountain , and is Canada's third longest tunnel after the Mount Macdonald and Connaught tunnels. It connects the Gare Centrale in the city center with the north side of the Île de Montréal and Deux-Montagnes .
The tunnel, originally used by long-distance trains on the Canadian Northern Railway to Ottawa , has always been electrically operated. Since the 1960s, the tunnel has only been used by suburban trains that have been operated by AMT since 1996 . Until December 2014 only the line to Deux-Montagnes ran through the tunnel, then the one to Mascouche as well . In the future, the trains to Saint-Jérôme will also use the tunnel, which could reduce the travel time by a quarter of an hour compared to the current connection of the line to the Gare Centrale.
The clearance profile of the tunnel limits the height of the vehicles to 4.42 m, which is why Bombardier MultiLevel double-deck coaches must be used for the trains instead of the more widely used BiLevel double-deck coaches from the same manufacturer.
history
Project
The tunnel was designed in 1910 by the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) to provide access to downtown Montreal. The simple routes along the south side of Mont Royal were already occupied by the competing companies Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), so that a CNoR route would have to cross the tracks of the competing companies. A route north and east around Mont Royal opposite a direct line through the mountain was also rejected by the CNoR.
In order to be able to finance the expensive tunnel, the CNoR planned to build the model town of Mont-Royal on low-quality agricultural land north of Mont Royal . The CNoR was also planning its own train station with associated office and retail space on inexpensive land on Rue de La Gauchetière and Avenue McGill College. Several farms that cultivated the Montreal melon were bought for railway construction. The land had to be purchased for over C $ 1,500,000 after owners learned of rail construction plans and property prices soared.
Construction of the tunnel
In 1911, the cnor for the construction of the tunnel and the train station in the center founded the subsidiary Canadian Northern Montreal Tunnel and Terminal Company , which in 1914 Mount Royal Tunnel and Terminal Company was renamed. Construction began on July 8, 1912 at the west portal. The breakthrough took place on December 10, 1913, with the deviation of the tubes broken out from the west and east being 2.5 cm. The tunnel is about 5 km long and rises to the west with a slope of 6 ‰.
In 1914, CNoR ordered six electric boxcab locomotives for tunnel operations from General Electric , which were delivered in 1917. The concrete lining of the tunnel was completed in 1916, the two tracks with 2400 V DC overhead line were installed in September 1918.
On September 6, 1918, the insolvent CNoR was nationalized and the board of directors was replaced by a board appointed by the government. At the same time the operations management of the Canadian Government Railways (CGR) was transferred to him. On December 20, 1918, the Canadian Privy Council ordered the establishment of the Canadian National Railways (CNR) to operate the CNoR, the CGR and other bankrupt private railways. In 1923, the CNR also took over the GTR and thereby got their more suitable routes for trains from downtown Montreal to Ottawa and Toronto. The route through the Mont Royal Tunnel was relegated to a branch line, but still remained important for suburban traffic.
The CNR took over the tunnel when it was completed, along with the practically empty land on which the former owners of the CNoR wanted to build a model town. Between the 1930s and 1960s, the CNR realized individual developments in the countryside, but construction was interrupted by the global economic crisis and the Second World War.
Construction of the main train station
In 1931 construction began on the new Montreal Central Station. With the opening of the Gare Centrale on July 14, 1943, the nearby CNoR and the Bonaventure train station of the former GTR were closed. Towards the end of the 1950s, the CNR began to build on the remaining plots purchased by the CNoR in the city center. The Queen Elizabeth Hotel opened in 1958, before the CNR became Canadian National (CN) in 1960. The headquarters of the new company followed in 1961 and the Place Ville-Marie skyscraper in 1962 . At the beginning of the 1980s, the contact line voltage was increased from 2400 V to 3000 V.
On July 1, 1982, the CN signed a ten-year contract with the Société de transport de Montréal (STCUM) for the operation of the suburban traffic newly ordered by the STCUM. The provincial government of Quebec announced on February 12, 1992 that the route through the Mont Royal Tunnel would be modernized for 289 million Canadian dollars (CAD), with Bombardier winning the order for the delivery of 58 new suburban trains worth 130 million CAD received. Tunnels and stations were renovated, the tracks and electrical systems were renewed and the signaling switched to Centralized Traffic Control (CTC).
Conversion to 25 kV contact line voltage
On June 2, 1995, the last box cab locomotives were scrapped. The locomotives from the 1910s were in use for almost 80 years. The traction power supply was switched from 3000 V direct current to 25 kV 60 Hz alternating current and operations with the new multiple units started.
With the change in overhead line voltage, the Via Rail trains to and from the city of Québec and Nord-du-Québec no longer ran through the tunnel. The trains reached the main station rolling downhill without traction, as the operation of diesel locomotives in the tunnel was prohibited due to the small ventilation shaft. Boxcab locomotives were harnessed to the trains for the exit.
In 1996 the operation of the suburban trains was transferred from the STCUM to the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT).
On February 28, 2014, AMT and CN announced that AMT had bought the Deux-Montagnes route from CN for $ 97 million. The purchase agreement grants CN the right to use the route for freight traffic, whereby these trains are only allowed to run outside of peak hours between 08:30 and 15:30 and between 20:30 and 05:30.
literature
- Anthony Clegg: The Mount Royal Tunnel. Canada's first subway . Railfare Books, Montreal 2008, ISBN 978-1-897190-41-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ MultiLevel Coaches - New Jersey and Maryland, USA & Montreal, Canada - Canada United States - Bombardier. bombardier.com, accessed June 17, 2016 .
- ↑ The tunnel, right at the ventilation shaft, with historical explanation. In: esteemfoundation.org. Retrieved June 17, 2016 .
- ^ Chronicling America. Historic American newspapers (Ed.): The Tacoma times. (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949 . Image 8. August 21, 1912, ISSN 2158-4729 , p. 8 ( chroniclingamerica.loc.gov [accessed June 17, 2016]).
- ↑ http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/zügeger/single-view/view/amt-launches-train-de-lest-commuter-service.html