Deux Montagnes, the town I grew up in, was made a viable bedroom community in large part thanks to the commuter train that serviced the town from downtown Montreal since 1925. The train service began in 1918, but only expanded out to St. Eustache-sur-le-lac (as it was known back then) in 1925. Fun fact: there was a time that the train ran a summer-only extension to Calumet Beach. Definitely before my time.
Before the line was upgraded in 1995, the trip into Montreal took anywhere from 50 to 65 minutes depending on the length of the train and whether it was being pulled by the old electric box cabs or not. You'd think a commuter would rather drive the trip, which could potentially go quicker by car. But the train made it possible to relax and socialize during the commute and not have to worry about parking. The train delivered you right into Station Centrale, which was connected indoors to both Place Ville Marie and Place Bonaventure. From either of those two places you could take a Metro anywhere downtown.
When I started working I took the train every day, getting off at Bois Franc (known as Val-Royal back then) to switch to a bus that took me out by the airport.
When CN ran the line, by the 1980s it eventually saw slumping ridership, in my humble opinion a direct result of severely reduced service and hiked fares. During WWII, the line ran 77 trains per day. At its later peak the line ran 44 trains per day. But at its worst, we were lucky to see 5 trains a day, especially on weekends. Ridership on the entire line went from almost 9 million per year in 1966 down to a low of 2 million in 1981. CN even tried to abandon the line. Thankfully, the Quebec government would not permit this and the same people who ran the Montreal transit system (STCUM) took it over in 1982 and modernized it in 1992.
Under the new Réseau express métropolitain (REM) project, the Deux-Montagnes line is being converted to driverless light metro operation which will see a train arrive every 5 minutes at peak operating times and every 15 during off-peak. The trip downtown on the REM system should take no more than 35 minutes, finally much faster than a car trip. It will also run 20 hours a day, which will be welcome news for those wanting to attend hockey games and other late night events downtown.
The problem is that there's a lot of work required across the entire system to transform the existing line, including bigger stations, overpasses and track and catenary rebuilds. So the line is shut down as of 31 Dec 2020 to allow for full-time construction to begin.
In this video, some hard core train fans decided to ride the last scheduled train on the last leg between the two stations in Deux Montagnes. They even drank a toast, with alcohol, on the train. It's a bittersweet time for Deux Montagnes residents, who now have to wait over 3 years to see the project completed and the new line commissioned.
The new REM line will open in 2024, at which point it will also be possible to travel to the airport by train.
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