Future Montréal Metro, Redux Redux

I’ve done Future Montréal Metro maps in the past: a 2019 version here and a 2022 version here.

The point of giving this yet another go is to 1) use the design language of the ARTM’s new metropolitan map, and 2) add a city-centre tunnel that could transform the Exo lines into regional rail.

Regarding what to include or not, I deferred to Marco Chitti’s map. I route the regional rail tunnel up Parc (since my map doesn’t include tramways) and along the Montréal-Ouest–Lucien-L’Allier alignment (because when I designed it Marco’s way I was yelled at in a Discord server).

Since the REM de l'Est seems stalled, let's go back to the drawing board and reimagine it along a possibly more useful alignement and not as a standalone project, but as part of a bigger picture.

So, here is the updated vision for a Réseau de Transport du Grand Montréal – 2040 pic.twitter.com/mtF1KCvSpk

— Marco Chitti (@ChittiMarco) March 27, 2022

I only included the heavy rail portions (and excluded the buses and trams) for a few reasons: 1) including everything would have been too cluttered; 2) I wanted it to look as familiar as possible – look, it’s just the current map but with two major projects + a few extensions! – and 3) I think trams are a conspiracy.

(The latter is mostly a joke. Tram implementations are terrible in Japan and North America, which is what I’ve experienced, but I’m happy to believe that “Modern European Tramways” can deliver actually useful rapid transit.)

By no means is this meant to be an exhaustive list of useful transit projects in Greater Montréal. Indeed, I deferred to Marco’s map precisely because a such a list would be endless, and digging into all of them would drive me insane. I’m sure Yellow Line extensions in both directions would be useful, as would circumferential transit for the South Shore and Laval. The map is mostly meant to depict how two strategic interventions (the Pink Line and regional rail) would bring the network much closer to being “complete” in terms of coverage.