Overview

AMT's territory spans 63 municipalities and one native reserve, 13 regional county municipalities, and 21 transit authorities. It serves a population of approximately 3.2 million people who make more than 750,000 trips daily.

AMT's mandate includes the management of reserved (HOV) lanes, metropolitan terminuses, park-and-ride lots, and a budget of $163 million, which is shared amongst the transit corporations and intermunicipal public transit organizations. Apart from these essential services, AMT is also responsible for Montreal's commuter rail service, which links the downtown core with communities as far west as Rigaud, as far east as Mont-Saint-Hilaire, and as far north as Blainville.

History

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific had long operated commuter trains in the Montreal area, but by the 1980s, their services had dwindled to one route each. The Société de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM), or Montreal Urban Community Transportation Corporation (MUCTC), which already managed metro and bus services across the Island of Montreal, assumed management of CN's Deux-Montagnes commuter service and CP's Rigaud service in 1982 as the two railways began scaling back their services.

In 1997, management and financing of both lines was transferred to the newly-created AMT, which had been established to distribute funding and coordinate transportation planning among the numerous transit operators throughout the Greater Montreal Region. Later that year, the AMT inaugurated service between Blainville and the Jean-Talon train station in Montreal's Parc Extension district, connecting to the metro at Parc . Originally, the service was designed to provide a temporary alternative for motorists from Laval and the North Shore of Montreal, while the Autoroute 15 bridge was being repaired. The service proved to be so popular that the AMT continued to fund it, and even extended a number of trains to the Lucien-L'Allier station downtown in 1999.

In 2000, AMT inaugurated its McMasterville service (which runs along a CN line), and later extended it to Mont-Saint-Hilaire in 2002. In 2001, the AMT initiated a pilot project, launching service on a fifth line (using CP tracks) to Delson.

Operations

The AMT commuter trains operate on two different track systems: the CN lines, which radiate from Central Station; and the CP lines, which operate from Lucien-L'Allier (Windsor) Station. Both stations are in downtown Montreal and are relatively near to one another. The Central Station is also served by Amtrak and VIA Rail. The Deux-Montagnes and Mont-Saint-Hilaire lines run on CN trackage, while the Rigaud, Blainville, and Delson lines run on CP trackage.

The train lines are integrated with the bus and metro network maintained by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), or Montreal Transit Corporation.

Commuter Trains

The system is divided into five fare zones, numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 (there is no Zone 4). The fare system is based on the assumption that travellers are going to or from the downtown terminal in Zone 1. As such, there is no reduced fare if, for example, a traveller makes a trip from Zone 5 to Zone 2, or entirely within Zone 3.

Zones 1 and 2 are within the City of Montreal (Island of Montreal), the region normally served by the STM.

Formerly, Zone 1 was completely integrated with the Société de transport de Montréal's (STM) bus and metro systems, and users could use the monthly bus/Metro pass (called the Carte Autobus Métro or CAM) on trains in Zone 1. This is no longer allowed, although holders of the AMT's Carte Train Autobus Métro, or TRAM, may transfer to the bus or Metro with no additional payment.

Tickets and passes for commuter trains are valid for any line, as long as travel is limited to the zone for which the ticket is purchased.

Tickets are sold by automated vending machines at each station. Passes for all zones are sold at Central and Lucien-L'Allier Stations. Passes for Zones 2-6 are sold at a few stores near the suburban stations. Passes are valid for a calendar month, and are normally on sale from the 25th of the previous month to the 5th of their month of validity. The March pass goes on sale February 20.

List of Commuter Train Stations

Montreal/Dorion-Rigaud

• Lucien-L'Allier (connection to Lucien-L'Allier metro station)
• Vendôme (connection to Vendôme metro station)
• Montréal-Ouest
• Lachine
• Dorval
• Pine Beach
• Valois
• Pointe-Claire
• Cedar Park
• Beaconsfield
• Beaurepaire
• Baie-d'Urfé
• Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
• Île-Perrot
• Pincourt / Terrasse-Vaudreuil
• Dorion
• Vaudreuil
• Hudson
• Rigaud

Montreal/Deux-Montagnes

• Gare Centrale (connection to Bonaventure metro station)
• Canora
• Mont-Royal
• Montpellier
• Du Ruisseau
• Bois-Franc
• Sunnybrooke
• Roxboro -Pierrefonds
• Laval
• Île-Bigras
• Sainte-Dorothée
• Grand-Moulin
• Deux-Montagnes

Montreal/Blainville

• Lucien-L'Allier (connection to Lucien-L'Allier metro station)
• Vendôme (connection to Vendôme metro station)
• Montréal-Ouest
• Parc (connection to Parc metro station)
• Bois-de-Boulogne
• Saint-Martin
• Sainte-Rose
• Rosemère
• Sainte-Thérèse
• Blainville

Montreal/Mont-Saint-Hilaire

• Gare Centrale (connection to Bonaventure metro station)
• Saint-Lambert
• Saint-Hubert (temporary)
• Saint-Bruno
• Saint-Basile-le-Grand
• McMasterville
• Mont-Saint-Hilaire

Montreal/Delson

• Lucien-L'Allier (connection to Lucien-L'Allier metro station)
• Vendôme (connection to Vendôme metro station)
• Montréal-Ouest
• LaSalle
• Sainte-Catherine
• Saint-Constant
• Delson

External links

• Agence métropolitaine de transport (in French)
• Agence métropolitaine de transport (in English)