Montreal commuter adventures: new equipment and changing services

Allo!

Ah, Montréal!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, it would only be about a week after returning from my Christmas travels that I’d find myself back in Montreal for a few days for work. This time around I’d be flying both ways, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t find some time to work in some train activity.

For the trip from Halifax to Montreal on January 5, I’d be flying with Air Canada. Our work travel system forced me to pick a very early flight, so I was out to the airport before 6am (blah!), though it was a pleasant morning as the sun worked its way up. My flight that morning would be with Air Canada, on one of their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. This was my first Max 8 flight in years, and my only one with Air Canada thus far. My general impression was quite positive, though it certainly helped that by chance I was assigned an aisle seat in an exit row seat with extra legroom, and had nobody in the middle seat next to me, despite it being a rather full flight!

Once we took off, the flight itself was remarkably smooth. Not even a bit of turbulence, and we landed in Montreal smoothly and on schedule. The only hiccup then was that I had opted to check my carry-on bag at the gate, and it took ages to come off the plane; but once I had that in hand, I found my way to the 747 bus and was downtown in very short order.

Interior of an Air Canada 737 Max 8. Typical 3-3 economy layout and seats are just okay (like any economy airline seat these days), but the lighting and in-seat entertainment setup are both quite nice.

In addition to having nobody in the seat to my left, the full row across the aisle was empty too. If you look closely to the window, you can tell we're above the clouds at this point.

Early morning Air Canada service. Always nice to enjoy a coffee, but turbulence on these short flights can put a quick end to hot drink service. Fortunately, we had all smooth air on this flight.

My plane after disembarking in Montreal, on a very chilly January morning.

Montreal, cold and snowy.

Arriving on a Monday morning, I got to downtown not long before VIA #15 was set to arrive. It was frigid in Montreal, but I braved the cold to go grab a couple photos of the train arriving from Halifax.

VIA 15 arrives from Halifax, with 3 units up front - something that became standard through the holidays after my fateful trip in the last post...

Pulling in to Central station.

Still a long train as the peak holiday rush settles down.

On this first day in the city I found myself with a fair bit of time to spare around work commitments, so I decided to get out and do a bit of train riding. First up, I headed for the REM. In November, the next section of the REM had opened, extending service through the Mount Royal tunnel and out to Deux-Montagnes. As much as I miss the old EMUs from the days of commuter service, the REM service is quite impressive, and it was particularly fun to ride through the tunnel with the excellent view from the front of the driverless train.

I also decided to ride out to Brossard to complete a full end-to-end coverage of the line, partly just for fun, but largely to check out the equipment at the VIA Montreal Maintenance Centre.

There's a view that hasn't been available for a while - and a better view than ever! Heading through the tunnel.

The windows were a little messy so not the best focus, but there are some nice views along the Deux-Montagnes line.

Some more nice views.

At Deux-Montagnes station, having made a quick turnaround from one platform to the other. Like all REM stations, this is fully enclosed with platform doors.

With a more empty train, here's a look inside one of the REM trains. The seating is probably the biggest gripe with these trains, with hard plastic longitudinal seating throughout.

Despite the less than ideal seats, the cars are spacious and the ride is comfortable and smooth.

On the way back toward Central station, we approach the entrance to the tunnel. Trains moved very slowly on approach, which I think was related to avoiding issues with ice build up at the entrances.

Back out the other side of Central, the REM snakes around the VIA MMC, providing some excellent equipment views. Here we see a P42 shunting the HEP section from #15, which has been separated off from the Ren section so both can be worked on separately.

Some more VIA equipment at MMC, including the unique Glenfraser lounge, which is no longer used.

A good variety of equipment, including the unique "Lumi" Venture set, and some rough looking LRCs, Rens, and a tagged Chateay.

More equipment nearer the main shop at MMC.

At Brossard, the other terminus of the current system. 

On the way back past MMC, I spotted the last remaining SW1000 at MMC. It has since made its way to the deadline.

Another view of MMC equipment.

Some Ocean HEP equipment in the foreground, and a HEP2 set behind.

In addition to the MMC, there are nice views of the Exo facility at Pointe St-Charles 

With that REM tour behind me, the next order of business was to try to get in a ride on an Exo commuter train. Exo’s schedules are heavily structured around peak-hour commuting, with more trips heading inbound in the morning and outbound from the city in the evening. As a result, it can be tricky to find a lot of opportunities for round trips at various times of day. After consulting some schedules, I figured I could do a round trip on the Saint-Jérôme line, taking with 3:15pm train (#179) from Lucien L’Allier as far as Rosemère, arriving at 4:09pm and then immediately catching the next inbound train there at 4:18pm (#188), ending up back where I started by 5:12pm. The line through that stretch is single track and the two trains meet between Rosemère and Sainte-Thérèse, so it seemed like a safe return option.

The main reason I looked at this line in the first place is that I wanted to try out the new CRRC built bilevel cars that Exo recently received. At this point, these were mostly in use on the Saint-Jérôme line.

Arriving at Lucien L’Allier station, I had a good look at the recently renovated station platforms while waiting on my train to arrive. Just over 15 minutes before departure, the equipment for my train arrived, with ALP45DP 1365 leading a 7-car string of exactly what I hoped to see – shiny new CRRC bilevels! Built by the Chinese CRRC Corporation, Exo received a fleet of 8 cab cars and 36 coaches from 2022-2023, with the first entering service in June of 2024. This was the first equipment ordered since the commuter operation was rebranded as “exo”, and is the first to wear the distinctive livery, with different coloured accents on different cars. As a huge fan of the old AMT scheme, I can’t say I’m all that fond of this new look, but it’s always neat to see and try out new equipment.

In addition to the platform work outside, Exo has done some nice work inside the Lucien L'Allier station.

I still don't love the Exo branding, but at least they're doing something with it.

Doors to the platforms.

Off to one side, a train waits with an F59PHi

One of the bulky looking ALP45DP locomotives, now running in diesel-only mode permanently.

My train arrives, with the distinctive looking CRRC cars towering over the tighter lines of the ALP45DP.

My first impression of the CRRC cars from the platform is that they are HUGE. Unlike the sloped Bombardier bilevels or the contoured multilevels, these are basically built like big rectangular boxes, using every inch of the available loading gauge. This makes for a rather intimidating look. The cab cars look really bizarre with the extremely tall sloped end.

Stepping on board, the overall experience felt uncannily familiar. The seats and overall interior designs look and feel like a mix between the multilevel and bilevel fleets, like CRRC doing their best impression of Bombardier’s legacy products. That said, my main takeaway inside was that the cars feel really solid. Everything seemed well constructed and thoroughly functional. Once we got underway, the ride was quiet and quite smooth. We’ll have to see how these hold up over time, but they seem to be a rather promising product. The coloured accents inside match the exterior of each car, which was a nice touch.

The cab car has a washroom, which seemed nice enough but wasn’t fully working. This may have to do with the fact that one of the unions covering cleaners and some maintenance staff was on strike at the time, so things may not have been as well taken care of as usual (and also explained the many stickers throughout some cars).

This shows what I mean about the different profiles - compare the towering box of the CRRC cars on the right to the tighter clearance contour of the multilevels on the left.

These cars are predominantly bare stainless steel, with the exo branding and a large coloured circle in the middle of the car. The colour on each car carries through on the interior accents as well, as you can see below.

Inside a CRRC bilevel, seating on the lower level of the car.

Area near the doors, with some seating and bike storage.

Exterior doors. These cars are exclusively lower-level boarding, much like the classic Bombardier bilevels, so they can't be used in Central station or at any other high platforms.

Seating in the intermediate area at the end of the car.

End doors.

Looking into the car from the end, with the stairs up to the upper level, and down to the lower level on the left.

Much of the seating faces one way or the other, with a handful of facing quads through each car.

Upper level seating - you'll note this is a different car, evident by the purple accents.

Wandering through to the cab car, I noticed the crew still had the door open as they prepared for the outbound trip.

Peeking into the cab car - note the large bars that are part of the crash protection. Makes for a somewhat awkward looking design inside and out. 

There is a single washroom in the cab car on each train.

Washroom

Some of the Exo branding repeated throughout the cars.

A better look at the seats. These seem to be an identical design to the ones used in the multilevels. There's no recline of course, but the contour is good, the seat padding is fairly good, and the legroom is perfectly adequate.

The ride out to Rosemère was pleasant and smooth. The route is circuitous and slow for the first while, but there is some rather nice scenery as you move further from the city, especially crossing the two rivers around Laval.

Arriving at Rosemère I had just a few minutes to explore a bit of the platform before my return train arrived, with 1354 leading a slightly shorter 6-car train, again with the CRRC cars. The light faded away during the return trip, with it being the shortest days of the year, but the ride was again smooth and relaxing, and Lucien L’Allier’s new platforms are very welcoming on a cold winter evening.

Off the train

Train departs, continuing on its outbound trip.

A few minutes later, my inbound train arrives, again with an ALP45DP.

Before boarding, I had a quick look at the end of the cab car. With the end sloping all the way up on these enormous tall cars, it makes for a rather bizarre appearance.

Back on board.

Builders plate inside, noting where these were built.

Back at Lucien L'Allier. The new platforms are especially inviting in the evening.

I neglected to get a proper shot inside one of these accessible cars. These have more open space on the lower level to provide space for wheelchairs and mobility aids. 

ALP45DPs at LuLa

Go Habs! As we now know, they were in the midst of an excellent season that would culminate in an impressive run through to the Eastern Conference finals.

While I was planning out other potential excursions, I realized that I happened to be in Montreal during the final days of the Mascouche line operating out of Central station. The Mascouche line opened back in 2014, extending commuter service from Candiac east to Repentigny and Mascouche. This line was notable because it used the electrified track through the Mount Royal tunnel (shared with the Deux-Montagnes line) to access Central station, but then branched off on fully diesel territory for the rest of its run. The construction of this line required the purchase of the fleet of ALP45DP locomotives, dual-mode units capable of operating on electric power through the tunnel and switching to diesel for the rest of the run.

When the tunnel and the Deux-Montagnes line were taken over for conversion to the REM, Exo could only run those trains in as far as Ahuntsic. Some trains terminated there, but a few each day temporarily started detouring around the mountain, taking a circuitous route west from Central station, through Côte Saint-Luc, and up around to Ahuntsic, then continuing on the existing line. This added roughly 45 minutes to the travel time, and made the through-trains impractical for many commuters.

This would all change on January 12, with the opening of the new connection station at Cote-de-Liesse. This station would allow direct connections from the Mascouche line to the REM, with a revamped layover yard for the Exo trains. This would make the service much more practical and efficient, though it also continues to render the ALP45DPs completely pointless as dual-mode locomotives, and they’ll continue operating in exclusively diesel mode through the remainder of their Exo careers.

With that in mind, I realized I was here with one last chance to ride a Mascouche train out of Central station. I wouldn’t be able to ride the full line, but I figured out that I could take one of the evening departures from Central station (train 1207, just after 4pm) and ride as far as Sauvé. There is a Metro station on the orange line is just a short walk from the commuter station, so it would make for a very efficient return trip.

Before heading out for this run, I made another brief jaunt on the REM, which allowed me to get out and explore the new Cote de Liesse station. 

Heading to the REM at Central.

Cote de Liesse station - the new Exo side is to the right.

Peeking through at the new Exo platform.

Another view inside. The Exo platform is on the same side as the northbound trains. For those heading to downtown, you need to cross over to the other side.

From the overpass, looking south. On the left we see the new Exo storage yard, where Mascouche trains will lay over. On the right we see the double track of the REM.

Looking northwest, here's the Exo track. This station has a high platform, as do some others on the Masoouche line, restricting this line to using the multilevels and their dual high/low boarding setup. 

Signage in Cote de Liesse.

Cote de Liesse also has an extra pocket track, which will allow for additional trains to be added into the mix during busy periods. The train stored here clearly hadn't moved in a little while.

Boarding at Central station on January 7, I headed downstairs to the platforms to find my train, a short 3-car set of Bombardier multilevels, led by F59PH 1345. As I boarded, I was dismayed to find that nearly all of the windows on the train were in terrible shape – absolutely filthy! Only one side of one car on the upper level had clean windows, so that’s where I found a seat. Unfortunately this meant I’d have no view on the south/west side of the train, but better than nothing.

Mascouche train on the VIA boarding sign - not something you'll see any more.

Classic track marker, ready for boarding at track 20.

Notice about the impending end of service. Note that in addition to the suggested connection with the REM at Cote-de-Liesse, they also highlight the connection with the Metro at Sauvé, which is effectively what I'd be doing for my return trip.

Coming down to the platform, a VIA Venture train was waiting on the adjacent track. 

Here's the train I'll actually be boarding.

Exo and VIA. Trains to Mont St-Hilaire will still be seen here, but no more Mascouche-bound trains.

The multilevels themselves were in okay shape, and decently comfortable; though the new CRRC cars had indeed been more impressive, and after riding those the multilevels also felt a little cramped. There were very few passengers on at the start of the trip, and far more would board at Ahuntsic and then Sauvé.

The ride for the first while was smooth, but then I was surprised when we stopped at one point (at Saint-Henri) and proceeded to back up. We went back for quite a while, and then eventually went forward, crossing over tracks as we did. It turns out that the normal crossover at Saint-Henri had some sort of issue, so we had to back up quite a long way to get to another cross-over, all so we could get over to the track we needed to head up through the Côte Saint-Luc yard. One neat thing about this detour is getting to pass right through the CP yard (and next to the CN one), but unfortunately thanks to the dimming light and the filthy windows, I barely saw a thing of any interest.

Passing a REM train leaving Central station.

Familiar territory leaving Central station, on the same route that Ottawa/Toronto bound VIA trains depart.

CN activity.

Passing more CN action on our way out.

New territory! Curving off to head to Cote-St-Luc

Screenshot from Google maps showing where this route would take us, basically right between the CN and CP yards. Very slow moving.

Filthy windows off to the left, not much to see unfortunately.

Some views of the CP yard.

Sorry, "CPKC"...

Next stop, Ahuntsic. Upper floor in a multilevel.

Crossing the REM line.

Ahuntsic station

Next stop, Sauvé. For this station with its low platforms, I'll need to use the lower steps at the end of the car.

Ultimately we arrived at Sauvé close to on time, despite losing about 15 minutes from the backup move, which highlights how padded this schedule was, and how lousy it must have been for regular commuters. I was the only one getting off the train amidst a very large crowd boarding, and was quite surprised as a fare inspector flagged me down and inspected my ticket for proof of payment. As the train accelerated away, I found my way down the stairs and made the short walk to the Metro station, for a much quicker ride back down to Bonaventure and up to my hotel.

Sharp looking ex-GO F59PH, in the classy AMT scheme. The Exo logo on the nose works pretty well.

1345, ready to depart.

There goes my short little train. The stairs down from the station platform are just to the left, and it would be just a few minutes walk to the Metro station. This station is also served by VIA's Northern Quebec services, as they follow the same route from Central station.

That would be it for train riding on this trip. A few colleagues and I did manage to fit in a Habs game (always fun at the Bell Centre, especially on a night like that, where Montreal had an excellent win against Calgary), and otherwise enjoyed the rest of the time we had in the city around our productive work engagements.

Hey, that's sort of a train!? 

Even as a Leafs fan, I can't deny that this is an electric place to watch hockey.

Back outside, after a huge Habs win the streets were very alive. Still lots of Christmas decor around too!

My flight back the next day was a little bit more eventful than the westbound trip. I was booked on a mid-day flight with Air Canada, which ended up delayed by 3 hours due to the incoming plane being stuck in St. John’s and therefore requiring them to find a different plane for our flight to Halifax. I was impressed, though, that Air Canada was good at communicating this well in advance, so I was able to take my time for a leisurely check-out and grabbed lunch at Dunn’s before heading out to the airport.

Once we finally got away, the flight itself was quite smooth. In this direction I was on an Airbus A220 (the former Bombardier C-series), which is very nice for a narrowbody plane, with a 2+3 seating configuration. I had a window seat on the 2-seat side, and ended up lucking out with no seat-mate. One benefit of the delay was getting to enjoy a beautiful sunset on the way home, and another very smooth flight, with very good service from the Air Canada staff.

Another A220, viewed from my A220.

Always breathtaking to get above the clouds on an overcast day, especially when greeted to this sort of sunset!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little visit to Montreal, and a look at a couple of commuter lines. I was quite impressed with the new CRRC equipment, and enjoyed the chance to ride one of the final Mascouche trains from Central station. On a subsequent visit, which I’ll mention in my next post, I had a chance to look at the new Cote-de-Liesse station in more detail, and I’m quite impressed with how that transfer is set up. Perhaps on a future visit to Montreal I’ll be able to get out and ride the full length of the Mascouche line. Certainly still more to explore!

 

Until next time…

Sunset from the air... I'd still prefer a train, but I can't deny that a view like this is pretty spectacular.