AMT unveils new cars; kids under 12 ride free

Lots of news out of the Agence métropolitaine de transport this week.

Among them:

10 thoughts on “AMT unveils new cars; kids under 12 ride free

  1. Chris

    the trains look neat but can someone tell me how the double deckers will be able to work on the Deux Montagne line? Won’t they need to expand the tunnel higher up at gare centrale?

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  2. Christopher

    “Trains are so popular that there is no seating at the end of the line. People coming into the train have to stand,” said AMT President Joel Gauthier.

    M. Gauthier should try leaving from Deux-Montagnes station during rush hour headed for Montreal during the school year. From what I saw last year, there are often already people standing due to lack of seats BEFORE IT EVEN LEAVES THE FIRST STATION.

    By the time the train gets to Ville St. Laurent, people are litterally fighting to get on the train, let alone be able to stand in the aisle.

    Of course in the reverse direction, the Deux-Montagnes bound rush hour trains in the afternoon have everyone fighting (yes, I’ve literally seen people fight!) just to get on the train — forget getting a seat.

    It is extremely common for people to arrive at Central Station in time to get on the 5:10pm train bound for Deux-Montagnes but not bother trying to fight to get on the train and just wait to get on the 5:25 train which shares the same platform.

    Right now, there is plenty of space on the rush hour trains but in the next two weeks, you can bet there will be a lot of frustrated users on the Deux-Montagnes line.

    The first few trains should really be going to the Deux-Montagnes line not the Mont St-Hilaire line. Of course I have never used the train on that line and could be proven wrong.

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  3. Lloyd

    You’re right when you mention that most passenger cars were rescued from the scrap heap.Cars on the St-Hilaire and Candiac lines are former Go Transit rolling stock from Toronto bought real cheap then refurbished at the Alstom plant in Pt. St Charles before it closed.They even picked up a few NJ Transit hand-me-downs when they added the additional runs last fall.The engines on St-Hilaire are former Amtrak stock from the ’70’s. No wonder it keeps breaking down !

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  4. Jean Naimard

    The problem with the new cars is that they won’t really be able to be used on the Deux-Montagnes line, because they are locomotive-hauled, and the AMT has no electric locomotives, nor is likely to be able to lease some as the only ones compatible are North-American, and transit agencies who use them (in the Northeast Corridor) have no spares.
    The AMT has on order several bimode locomotives, that is, diesel-electric-electric by Bombardier, but those engines are unproven technology (1959 New-Haven FL-9s won’t cut it, they did not work on 23 kv overhead) and they are to be used on the “train de l’est” for Mascouche, where they will run under wire for less than 5 miles.

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  5. Alex T.

    Also worthy to note is the new cars are supposed to be on the St-Hilaire line first. I seriously would have thought they’d be on the Blainville or Candiac lines first. Blainville can’t add any more departures and Candiac can’t lengthen their trains.

    About the use of cars without low-level doors (read: without ANY working doors), I’m curious as to why this is only for two weeks. Before this weeks announcement about the new double-deckers, I would have said it was two weeks because the new cars wil be in in two weeks… Those old NJT cars aren’t going to magically disappear in two weeks, or will they surprise another line’s users after that?!

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    1. Lloyd

      I suspect the reason for the new cars on the St-Hilaire line is because a certain person by the name of Gauthier happens to actually ride the train himself.He lives in St. Bruno. As for the NJT cars, they’ll be around for quite a while. Will be used as spares and in a real pinch can be used on Deux Montagnes one at a time.

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        1. Fagstein Post author

          The AMT certainly seems to think so. But I believe they’d need to be hauled by electric locomotives, which would mean waiting for new bi-mode locomotives to arrive.

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          1. Jean Naimard

            If I understand properly, the new trilevel cars are eventually destined for the train de l’est, which will be hauled by the bimode hogs.

            Now, this is a real long shot, because if those hogs don’t work, the whole line will be inoperative; a “round the horn” (all the way to Lachine) detour may work for the Abitibi/Chicoutimi train, but will backfire badly for a commuter train.

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    2. Biker_frank

      Funny that they’ll dedut on the St-Hilaire line, Isn’t that the line that the AMT president uses??. It’s also happens the line has the fewest problems. Go figure !

      Reply

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