The Blue Line is one of the four lines of the Montreal Metro in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the fourth to be built, notwithstanding its alternate official name of "Line 5". Unlike the other three routes, the Blue Line does not serve the city's main Metro junction at Berri-UQAM. The line is served by a single yard located between Parc and de Castelnau stations which is completely underground and occupies a small portion underneath Jarry Park. Another service facility is located at the 500-metre end tracks following Snowdon station, but is rarely used by the Société de transport de Montréal.
History
Construction of Snowdon station began in 1975, with two platform levels. In 1979, the provincial government decided to build the Blue Line. On 16 June 1986 the first section, between Saint-Michel to De Castelnau opened. This was followed by the section from De Castelnau to Parc on 15 June 1987 and Parc to Snowdon on 4 January 1988. The opening of the intermediate station Acadie was delayed for almost three months. It was finally opened on 28 March 1988. Other planned extensions at both ends of the route have so far been omitted due to financial reasons.
Proposed extensions
The former Agence métropolitaine de transport published a study, Vision 2020, in December 2011. According to this, the Blue Line will be extended northeast of Saint-Michel to Anjou. There were a total of five planned new stations: Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire, Langelier and Anjou. The terminus would be located at the Galeries d'Anjoushopping centre, near the junction of Autoroute 25 and Autoroute 40. On 20 September 2013, a 7-km extension northeast to St. Leonard and Anjou was announced by the STM and the Quebec government. The provincial government announced that the extension would proceed and committed $38.8 million to set up a "Project Office" tasked with preparing detailed financial and technical plans within two years. The construction start was due for 2021 with a completion date in 2025. On 28 May 2014, it was announced that the project would be reviewed after a new provincial government took over, and that if accepted again, construction would start in 2021, which was confirmed by the STM's new 2025 Plan., STM's preliminary schedule shows that construction could begin in 2021, enabling the new section to open in 2026. Federal funding is expected to cover 40 percent of the cost. Another proposed expansion involves extending the Blue Line southwest from Snowdon. This extension would serve Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Côte-Saint-Luc and Montreal West. This Metro extension has been put on hold indefinitely. The Édouard-Montpetit station is located near the northern entrance of the Mount Royal Tunnel. Plans to link the station to the AMT's Deux-Montagnes line were not pursued because the height difference between the two levels is 50 metres. In April 2016, this interchange received renewed interest as part of the proposed Réseau express métropolitain, which will replace the Deux-Montagnes line with rapid transit.
Future extension
While the proposed Metro Blue Line extension to St. Leonard and Anjou announced in September 2013 was not pursued following the defeat of the then-Parti Québécois government in 2014, on 9 April 2018 it was announced that a final commitment to the project had been made by both the provincial and federal governments to fund and complete the extension; the work is slated to begin in 2021 with a completion date in 2026.
Rolling stock
Since 1986, Blue Line trains are made up of MR-73 cars. Each train consists of two segments of three cars. Blue Line trains are thus shorter than Orange and Green Line trains. Some nine-car MR-73 trains were transferred from the Orange to the Blue Line, but these had to be shortened to six-car configurations.
