Several stations on the blue line will be exceptionally closed on April 30, from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., due to “constraints related to universal accessibility work” to be held at the Édouard-Montpetit station.
This was announced on Friday by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) in a press release, specifying that it had to proceed in this way because of “the location of the switches and crossings necessary for the reversal of the trains”.
The work involves installing two elevators that will make Édouard-Montpetit station universally accessible. The first elevator will connect all the landings in the direction of Saint-Michel, and the second, on the north side, will connect the footbridges and the platform in the direction of Snowdon The entrance to the station will also be extended to include a staircase, two perception lines additional.
Thus, the Acadie, Outremont, Édouard-Montpetit, Université-de-Montréal, Côte-des-Neiges and Snowdon stations will not be able to accommodate users and trains between 5:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. on April 30.
The rest of the blue line, i.e. the section between Parc and Saint-Michel stations, will however remain available at all times, just like the orange line at Snowdon station, which can be used to get to Jean-Michel station. Talon”, also notes the STM.
A shuttle service, the special line 809, will also offer a service every 15 minutes from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. and every 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. between Snowdon and Jean-Talon stations, which are already universally accessible every two.
Moreover, the shuttle “will make a stop at each metro station on the blue line and will be offered in both directions,” promises the transport company. It also invites users to use its online route calculator on its website, by “unchecking the metro option”.
Still 42 to transform
To date, some 26 stations in the Montréal metro network are universally accessible and can therefore be used by people with disabilities. The most recent is the McGill station, located on the green line, which became green at the beginning of April.
Out of a total of 68 stations, however, there are still 42 of them that still do not have lifts. Five other projects are underway in the Berri-UQAM, Édouard-Montpetit, D’Iberville, Outremont and Place Saint-Henri stations.
Remember that the transport company wants to make at least 30 stations accessible by 2025. In the longer term, the organization intends to do so for all its stations, as will be the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), whose of the first section is scheduled for this spring.