AMT Agence Metropolitaine de Transport
AMT News Editor Jean-Francois Turcotte
amtnews@canadianrailwayobservations.com

James Olmstead’s photo shows BROOKVILLE’s brand new South Florida Regional Transportation BL36PH passenger locomotive fully painted Tri-Rail and numbered TRCX 819. In the rear, one can see AMT F59PH 1340 (Still in the GO livery with AMXX lettering), being prepared for overhaul at Brookville’s facility in Pennsylvania. Another AMXX loco was nearby at the B&P yard.

Barry Silverthorn snapped RBRX F59PH 18533 on a CN westbound at Geddes Street in Belleville, Ontario just before noon on July 12, 2013.  Originally GO F59PH 533, RBRX 18533 is in transit to MetroLink at Los Angeles CA.

The former Mi-Train (Michigan) unit had been stored at Pointe St. Charles Yard and then operated on AMT in Montreal commuter service for a short while.

On July 16th, Agence Metropolitaine de Transport (AMT) train 890 is crossing the Wellington Bridge in Montreal with ALP45-DP 1352 in the early morning heading back to St-Hilaire, QC for another commuter departure later that morning over CN tracks. Guy-Pasqual Arcouette photo.

AMT is now using ALP-45DP's on weekend trains on the Vaudreuil line.  Michael Berry caught AMT 1364 heading towards downtown crossing over Elmhurst Avenue in Montreal West on June 1st.  AMT was previously using F59PH's or F59PHI's on the weekend runs. In June, AMT 1364. Here's a photo AMT 1364 heading towards downtown over Elmhurst Avenue in Montreal West.

[Michael Berry Photo Missing]

CJAD interviewed Rick Leckner July 17th. He sits on the Montreal Traffic Committee which is sponsored by Transport QC.  He says that because of the Mercier Bridge redo that there will soon be more AMT train cars added to the Candiac line, The AMT trains use the CP Seaway bridge.

The AMT Bombardier single level commuter cars are getting an overhaul and makeover.

AMT has published their updated schedule for the St-Jérôme line, which will be effective in August 2013.

As expected, two new trainsets will be introduced on all trains going all the way up to St-Jérôme, and several new departures have been added on weekday evenings and on weekends, although the latter will terminate at Concorde station.  For the time being, several weekday departures will still terminate/originate at Parc station, but could eventually be extended all the way to Lucien l'Allier when the third main track is built from Montreal West to Glen, and platforms 1 and 2 at Lucien l'Allier are rebuilt (these have been out-of-service for some time).

On July 20th, a new switch was installed at AMT Sortin Yard that connects with the main line on the CP Vaudreuil Subdivision. There will now two junctions into the yard, the existing one at Ballantyne, and this new one on a grade leading directly into the AMT Yard from the higher level Vaudreuil Sub near the Meadowbrook golf course club house.

Seven of the recently refurbished and repainted AMT 700 series cars were deadheading on CN's Montreal Sub this evening, led by F40 AMT 310. They will be entering regular service next week on the Candiac line when AMT launches new trains on the St-Jerome line, requiring more equipment. These cars were built by Bombardier in 1989. (Michael Berry)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestrailfan/9413066776/in/photostream/

STM and AMT have been studying extending the underground Métro network, and information on this matter has leaked to the media, revealing fascinating details on this ambitious plan which would add 20 kilometers of new tunnel as well as 20 new stations on the Orange, Yellow and Blue lines.

The Blue Metro Line:

The first extension to occur would most likely be a 5-stations extension of the Blue line eastward, with new stations at Pie IX, Viau, Lacordaire, Langelier and terminating at Galleries d'Anjou, a major shopping center located near the A25/A40 highway interchange.  Headways would be reduced from 4.5 minutes to 3 minutes, requiring 19 additionnal 6-cars MR-73 trainsets, which would be diverted from other lines when displaced by new MPM-10's.

http://images.lpcdn.ca/641x427/201305/30/696182-prolongement-ligne-bleue.jpg

A matter which could however complicate the planned service increase is the current configuration of the Snowdon station, which requires up to 4.5 minutes to turn a train.  STM proposes extending the line further West, building one new station in Hampstead, with universal crossovers at the station's entrance to speed-up operations.

The Orange Metro Line

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the plan is to split the current U-shaped Orange line into two separate lines joining at Bonaventure station, the latter which would require extensive transformation.  The western leg of the Orange line would be extended North by 7 stations: Poirier, Bois-Franc (interchange with AMT's Deux-Montagnes line), Gouin, Chomedey, Notre-Dame, St-Martin and terminating at Carrefour Laval, a major shopping and business center located near the A15/A440 highway interchange.  The eastern leg of the Orange line would be extended by two new stations: Souvenir and then joining with the western leg at St-Martin, forming a giant loop.

http://images.lpcdn.ca/641x427/201305/30/696183-prolongement-ligne-orange.jpg

Splitting the orange line is deemed necessary to reduce the impact of service disruptions, and could also help STM to better match demand with capacity - the eastern leg of the Orange line currently is overcrowded, yet its western leg is slightly underused.  Having separate lines will allow increasing frequency on busier eastern leg without wasting capacity on the underused western leg.  STM intends to reduce headway on the eastern leg of the Orange line down to two minutes to cope with the current overcrowding, which is expected to increase if the Blue line is extended eastward (both lines meet at Jean-Talon).

STM expects that 14 new 9-cars MPM-10 trainsets would be required to offer full planned service, above the already-ordered 468 MPM-10 cars.  Those new cars would have to be ordered from Bombardier, at an estimated cost of 325 M$.

The Yellow Metro Line

Finally, STM would expand the yellow line by 5 or 6 stations in Longueuil.  The final route has yet to be determined (it may be different than from the plan below), but it would terminate near the intersection of Rolland-Therrien and Jacques-Cartier boulevards, and also serve the Edouard-Monpetit College.

http://images.lpcdn.ca/641x427/201305/30/696184-prolongement-ligne-jaune.jpg

Because the increased passenger flow would be certain to choke the already congested Berri-UQAM station and the Green line between there and McGill, STM is proposing to extend the Yellow line further West to McGill, building one new station along the way near St-Laurent boulevard, north of the existing Green line.

STM expects 12 new 9-cars trainsets of MR-73 or MPM-10 would be required to offre the full planned service, with trains running on a 4-minutes headway.

Funding and schedule

The projects would be fulfilled on a 20 to 25-years schedule, without any funding source formally identified so far.  While the scope of these projects is thrilling, they are competing with other major rail projects for funding: AMT's light rail line to Brossard on the new Champlain Bridge, AMT's Train de l'Ouest to Vaudreuil, and Montreal's planned streetcar lines on Cote des Neiges and Park Avenue.

Currently short on available money, Quebec's Minister of Transportation has stated that it intends favoring the development of cheaper Bus Rapid Transit systems instead of the more costly rail systems, a decision which could jeopardize some or all projects listed above.  STM's first Bus Rapid Transit line will be built on Pie IX boulevard starting this year, at a cost of 300M$ for a 14-km, 18-stations line running in a dedicated corridor in the middle of the roadway.  It will open in 2018.

While Bus Rapid Transit systems are quite flexible and can be implemented at a generally lower cost than rail lines, they however are no match for the Métro's speed and capacity.  Also, many observers suggest that the Cote des Neiges and Park Avenue, as for many of Montreal's older roadways, are not wide enough to host both a Bus Rapid Transit corridor and regular road lanes, whereas a narrower twin-tracks streetcar corridor could do.

Francois Ghali submitted these AMT commuter trains he shot on board and trackside during rush hour:

Two GO Transit train were stranded in deep water north of Toronto, after a flash flooding epic rainstorm hit the city on July 7th. One month’s rain fall, fell in one hour! One train was enroute to Barrie. ON, but the engineer stopped the train due to the unsafe conditions. A total of two GO trains were stranded in water, and the passenger were rescued by dinghy after climbing up to the second level.

GO TRANSIT dips into the paint bucket!

In Willowbrook Yard/TMC on July 16th, Ken Bossi spotted the new GO Transit paint scheme on MP40PH-3C 607 and a BBD-built bi level. Already several busses adorn this livery. Ken Bossi photos.

GO has announced earlier that is will be building a new bus parking garage in East Gwillimbury (north of Toronto) to help support its bus operations.

http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/2874907-go-building-20-5m-garage-in-east-gwillimbury/

The next new Bombardier Bilevel deliveries GO Transit is expected to receive: are coach cars 2815-2837, and coach accessibility cars 2553-2554.

There has been no new news on the repowering of a GO MP40PH-3C to meet Tier-4 emissions standards to appease residents in Weston along the Kitchener line. The repowering of the nearly new locomotive was originally to be done using the new Cummins QSK-95, but it was not yet ready so the plans were changed to a pair of Cummins QSK-60 diesel engines.

Video showing the work at Toronto Union Station:

Toronto Rocket subway train 5751-56 is the latest undergoing delivery.
 
TTC LRT 4401 was delivered via rail car to Hillcrest mid-June. This makes 3 new LRT streetcars (4400-4402) delivered from Bombardier in Thunder Bay. All are still testing and not yet in revenue service.

A document has been posted by the TTC outlining the expected delivery of the new LRT streetcars and replacement schedule of old cars, along with fare payment and rostering info. Also included is a brief overview about retrofitting the classic single "trolley pole" to dual-wire pantograph operation in the future.

LINK TO PDF

The last of the late 70's Hawker Siddeley H5 subway trains in service made a final trip on June 14th, on a run from Downsview down the line and back. It experienced problems on the trip north at Eglinton West and was taken out of service. While the early cars have been scrapped, recent retirees have been trucked down to Buffalo NY (actually a facility in Hornell) for refurbishing for the Lagos light rail line in Nigeria.

To date, in addition to the H5 fleet directly being replaced by new Toronto Rockets on the Yonge-University-Spadina (YUS) line, the entire fleet of early 70's H4 subway cars has been retired (displaced by late 90's Bombardier T1 cars migrating from the YUS line to the Bloor-Danforth line due to earlier TR deliveries). The late 80's H6 subway cars will be next, replaced by more T1's from the YUS. When the final H6 retires, the Bloor-Danforth and Sheppard lines will be exclusively T1's, and the Yonge-University-Spadina line exclusively Toronto Rocket.

WCE Report July 2013

Moving westward to Mile 106 on CP’s Cascade Sub is the next West Coast Express station “Maple Meadows”.

This station is located on the Maple Ridge side of the border with Pitt Meadows.

The new highway to the Golden Ears Bridge to Langley, BC can be seen in the station photos looking west.

Here’s a tour around the Maple Meadows Station.

The first photo is of the Station Main Entrance.

The next view is looking west from the station platform.

The next view is looking east from the station platform.

A quick walk across the tracks is a view of the entire station platform from the SW side of the station.

My assistant and I could hear a westbound train approaching. So we headed back to the station platform for some photos. Along comes the CP 8901 with a loaded coal train headed for Neptune Terminals in North Vancouver.

As the westbound rolls by, along comes an Eastbound. CP 8542 comes up unexpectedly. This startles my assistant Mickey so I carefully get him off the platform.

This is my Field Assistant Mickey.

Our Family adopted him back in January. He’s a 9 ½ year old Border Collie Australian Sheppard cross. He loves to go everywhere with me in the van. He’s getting used to being trackside with me. The station platform was a bit too close to the action for him this day. It was rather loud. He quickly forgot the ordeal with a treat when we got back to the van.

A couple of Station platform signs at Maple Meadows.

Some past photos near the Maple Meadows Station:

First up is WCE 904 on he rear pushing the train west to the Maple Meadows Station back on Feb 19, 2010. I was fortunate to catch some rare daytime running during the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Two more photos taken the next day.

WCE 102 Cab Control Car is on the point headed west into Maple Meadows station. The next photo is the WCE 901 pushing the train from the rear.

The Adirondack (AMTK #68), had Amtrak 10031 in the consist departing Montreal on July 21st.  It had left Chicago July 15th on the Lake Shore Limited (AMTK #48), and was set off in Albany-Rensselaer for AMTK #69.  The car was in Quebec for some sort of repair work. No word yet on whether it will be in Adirondack service this fall.

[Andy Kirk Photo Missing]

Andy Cassidy bagged AMTK 510 on “510 North” at Lake City. BCat Mile 146.5, on the CN New Westminster Sub February 26th, 2013.

Please submit your AMTRAK IN CANADA Photos for CRO directly to William H. Baird at: amtnews@canadianrailwayobservations.com

© CRO August 2013