One Last Ride ! - Electric Nostalgia

[NS VIA Fan]

The 3 mile Mount Royal Tunnel in Montreal.......a route VIA used for a number of years is now being converted over from a heavy rail system to the new Light-Rail 'REM (Reseau Express Metropolitain)'.

The Mount Royal Tunnel is the northern entrance to Central Station in Montreal and a former CN electric line opened in 1918. It was used by VIA until the 1990s for trains to and from northern Quebec. The Senneterre and Jonquiere trains now run around Mount Royal via Taschereau Yard.....not through the tunnel but electric EXO commuter trains still use it. This was also the only place where you would find VIA trains hauled by an electric locomotive. These were ancient CN Box Cabs in service since 1918. (#6712 shown here on a commuter train also hauled the consist of #73 noted below)





Here's the consist of one of those trains to northern Quebec back in the '70s. The electrics hauled it 5 miles out to Eastern Jct. where they cut off and the diesels took over. Inbound trains didn't need an electric hauler. The diesel took the train to the north entrance of the tunnel at Portal Heights and as it was a constant down-grade through the tunnel to Gare Centrale......the diesel was placed in idle and just coasted the 3 miles down into the station.

Train #73 Montreal to Jonquiere and Chicoutimi

6712 GE Electric (off at Eastern Jct)
6714 GE Electric (off at Eastern Jct)
6787 FPA4
6636 F9B
9332 Baggage
1815 Sleeper Allendale 8Sec, 2Comp, 1Dr.
1087 Sleeper Buffet Lounge Cape Breton 2Bdr. 2Comp
5227 Coach
5298 Coach (off at Arvida)
5187 Coach (off at Jonquiere)
5287 Coach (to #75 at Hervey Jct to Senneterre)
431 Dinette (to #75 at Hervey Jct to Senneterre)
1807 Sleeper Campbellton (to #75 at Hervey Jct to Senneterre)

After VIA moved the CP RDC Dayliners from Windsor Station to Central Station......they were also hauled out through the Mount Royal Tunnel by an electric.... an interesting sight: 2 Electric Box Cabs + a single Budd RDC unit!

On January 6, 2020 the tunnel was to have been shut down for conversion over to the new Light-Rail system but at the last minute this was delayed until March. Although a portion of the line would have remained in service for now....it would no longer be possible to ride a through train from Gare Centrale to Deux-Montagnes. This line was extensively rebuilt in the mid '90s with Bombardier MR-90 MU's taking over from the Box Cabs and older MU's.

So on a visit to Montreal a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity for one last ride......18 miles out to Deux-Montagnes and back to Gare Centrale.











Here's CN's 'Portal Heights' Station at the northern entrance to the tunnel in the '70s. After the rebuilding of the system in the '90s.....Portal Heights was remamed 'Canora'....for CAnadian NOrthern RAilway....the original builder of the tunnel. Today Canora is again under construction for conversion to the REM Light Rail.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

And some shots of the CN Electrics that worked the line out to Deux-Montagnes until the rebuilding in the mid '90s and shown at Val Royal in June 1985.














The new REM system at Central Station should be operational in a couple of years:

https://rem.info/en









When the Montreal Metro (Subway) Edouard-Montpetit Station was built, it was constructed directly above CN's Mount Royal Tunnel line. Now with the conversion of the tunnel to Light-Rail.....new platforms will be inserted into the Mount Royal Tunnel and linked directly to the Edouard-Montpetit Metro Station....20 stories above the tunnel. This crane is working on the shaft for the high-speed elevators. (station cut-away view here)

https://rem.info/en/news/excavation-edouard-montpetit

 

[Maglev]

Thank you very much for this! The information and photos (especially before-and-afters) are top notch!

 

[jiml]

So no northbound heavy rail out of Gare Centrale? I thought there was some plan to maintain one track for emergency moves. Presume the new LRT is not compatible?

 

[railiner]

So...what about the Mascouche line? Didn't they make a rather large investment in ALP-45DP dual power locomotives in order to use the Mount Royal Tunnel?

 

[NS VIA Fan]

So...what about the Mascouche line? Didn't they make a rather large investment in ALP-45DP dual power locomotives in order to use the Mount Royal Tunnel?

Duel power units will not be needed as the Mascouche line trains will no longer use the tunnel. Trains will end at a new station 'Correspondance A40' ...where passengers will transfer to the new REM Light Rail and continue downtown through the tunnel to Central Station.

But for the next couple years while the tunnel is closed....the Mascouche line trains will just continue through Eastern Jct to Taschereau Yard and into Central Station from the south. The same route VIA's trains to Senneterre and Jonquiere use.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...r-commuters-during-mount-royal-tunnel-closure

 

[railiner]

Duel power units will not be needed as the Mascouche line trains will no longer use the tunnel. Trains will end at a new station 'Correspondance A40' ...where passengers will transfer to the new REM Light Rail and continue downtown through the tunnel to Central Station.

But for the next couple years while the tunnel is closed....the Mascouche line trains will just continue through Eastern Jct to Taschereau Yard and into Central Station from the south. The same route VIA's trains to Senneterre and Jonquiere use.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...r-commuters-during-mount-royal-tunnel-closure

Maybe NJT can buy the locomotives, since Montreal will no longer have a need for them...

 

[Anderson]

I got to go through the tunnel last year. Long story short, I needed one extra segment on VIA for status and I was able to line things up so I could get it on a Sauve-Montreal run. That required getting to Sauve, so I took AMT out there (and then got stuck waiting for about 40 minutes trackside).

 

[neroden]

Wow, $30 million for an entirely temporary bridge and mainline. The REM nuts are sparing no expense. This is supposed to make a profit for the Quebec pension fund but there is no way with this attitude...

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Wow, $30 million for an entirely temporary bridge and mainline...….

Don't know what bridge would be required unless they mean twinning the bridge adjacent to the one constructed several years ago in the grade separation project with the Deux-Montagne line at Eastern Jct.

https://goo.gl/maps/2URD4mjuAriiNkUE7

This is the same route used by VIA's Senneterre/Jonquiere trains.....and with that money being spent for double tracking through Taschereau Yard I can see this becoming a permanent route for the Mascouche line trains even after the REM opens. They intend to terminate Mascouche trains at the new REM 'Correspondance A40' Station

It will add about 15/20 minutes to the commute but offers a one-seat ride to downtown and really no different than the Saint-Jerome line trains that have to make a wide loop 'round the mountain to Montreal-West before heading to Gare Lucien-L'Allier.

If you want to get downtown faster....change to the REM.

 

[Urban Sky]

Wow, $30 million for an entirely temporary bridge and mainline. The REM nuts are sparing no expense. This is supposed to make a profit for the Quebec pension fund but there is no way with this attitude...

Why not? They are not paying a cent themselves for the indirect costs of construction work and once the REM is operational, they will receive a subsidy of $0.72 per passenger-km. To compare: VIA Rail’s operational subsidy was $0.27 per passenger-mile in 2018, thus $0.17 per passenger-km or less than a quarter of what the REM will charge the government. They will of course generate tons of money for their pension funds with their attitude (by milking the taxpayer as much as they possibly can) and we can’t even vote with our feet as the REM will replace vital bus routes like the 747 bus to the Airport and the CDPQ administers a large chunk of the funds of the Quebec Pension Plan, to which every taxpayer in Quebec must contribute and which is even managed by the CDPQ...