Montreal Gare Centrale
| Gare Centrale | |
|---|---|
 Main hall of the train station
|
|
| Data | |
| Location in the network | Terminus |
| Design | Tunnel station |
| Platform tracks | 14th |
| opening | 1943 |
| Architectural data | |
| Architectural style | International style |
| architect | John Campbell Merrett |
| location | |
| City / municipality | Montreal |
| province | Quebec |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 30 '0 " N , 73 ° 34' 0" W |
| List of train stations in Canada | |
The Gare Centrale is the main train station in the Canadian city of Montreal . It is located in the central arrondissement of Ville-Marie , between Boulevard René-Lévesque and Rue de La Gauchetière. The station serves both long-distance and suburban traffic and is used by 18 million passengers annually. The building is in the international style , with Art Deco friezes as decoration. While the main hall is at ground level, the tracks lie in a covered recess.
history
The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) sought to extend its main line into downtown Montreal, but competing rail companies blocked the access corridors. For this reason, the CNoR built the Mont-Royal-Tunnel , which was opened in 1918 together with the Tunnel Terminal on the city-side tunnel portal . In the same year the state Canadian National Railway (CN) took over the CNoR and other bankrupt railway companies. After the CN had also taken over the Grand Trunk Railway in 1923 , it had four smaller terminal stations in the city center (Bonaventure, Rue McGill, Rue Moreau, Tunnel).
In order to streamline operations, the CN planned the construction of a new central station, which was to be built on the site of the tunnel terminal. Trains from the west were to use the tunnel, trains from the east were to use a new viaduct route to be built. Construction work began in 1926, but had to be interrupted in 1929 due to the onset of the global economic crisis . In 1938 construction work started again. The main station, designed by John Campbell Merrett , opened on July 14, 1943. A deep cut stretched to the tunnel portal, which was covered by new urban development projects until the mid-1960s. The CN built its new headquarters next to the Gare Centrale and moved into it in 1961.
In 1978, the new state rail company VIA Rail took over passenger services from the CN and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The CPR central station Gare Windsor was gradually taken out of service until 1993 and the trains that had previously run there were diverted to the Gare Centrale, so that today all long-distance traffic is concentrated in one station. On September 3, 1984, a bomb exploded in the Gare Centrale , killing three people and injuring 41 others. With this attack, the mentally confused assassin Thomas Bernard Brigham wanted to protest against the upcoming visit of Pope John Paul II .
offer
VIA Rail has regular train services to several cities in the Québec-Windsor Corridor . The trains run as follows:
- 9 times a day to Toronto Union Station via Cornwall , Brockville , Kingston , Belleville and Oshawa
- 8 times a day to Ottawa via Alexandria
- Four times a day to Québec via Drummondville
VIA trains run less frequently to the following destinations:
- 3 times a week to Gaspé via Drummondville, Rivière-du-Loup and Rimouski
- Six times a week to Halifax via Drummondville, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Moncton and Truro
- 3 times a week to Jonquière ( Saguenay )
- 3 times a week to Senneterre
The Amtrak Adirondack express train runs once a day to New York via Plattsburgh , Schenectady and Poughkeepsie .
Three suburban railway lines, operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport , run from Gare Centrale to Deux-Montagnes , Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Mascouche .
Affiliated entities
The Gare Centrale is located next to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway and is an important gateway to the Montreal underground city . Pedestrian tunnels lead to the underground station Bonaventure , Place du Canada , the skyscrapers 1000 de La Gauchetière and Place Ville-Marie , the exhibition and hotel complex Place Bonaventure and the Hotel Fairmont Le Reine Élizabeth . Another important building in the immediate vicinity is the Marie-Reine-du-Monde de Montréal cathedral . The Halles de la Gare shopping center is located below the station , and the upper floors of the building are used as a car park .
Web links
- Station information from VIA Rail
- Information and photos on trainweb.org
- Monument protection information
Individual evidence
- ↑ Montreal by Train. (No longer available online.) Montreal Tourist Guide, formerly the original ; accessed on November 8, 2011 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c History of Montreal's Central Station. (No longer available online.) CAW National Council, archived from the original on January 25, 2014 ; accessed on November 9, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ American held as witness in Montreal bombing. The New York Times , September 5, 1984, accessed November 9, 2011 .
