Montreal metro users faced two separate events Thursday involving the presence of irritant gas that forced the evacuation of several stations and service interruptions on a large part of the network.
Two separate events including the presence of irritating gases in the Montreal metro occurred Thursday, forcing the shutdown of complete lines and the evacuation of passengers. The two events are not, however, linked, says Katherine Roux Groleau, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).
The presence of irritant gas was first noted at Parc station on the blue line at 1:48 p.m.
“Some stations and trains were then evacuated to allow us to proceed with the emergency ventilation protocol,” said Ms.me Roux Groleau by email. A service interruption took place on the blue line and the orange line, between the Berri-UQAM and Henri-Bourassa stations, for 28 minutes.
Then, at 6:10 p.m., the presence of irritating gas was also detected at the Berri-UQAM station, triggering a new emergency ventilation protocol. This time, the 24-minute service interruption affected the orange line between Beaubien and Lionel-Groulx stations, on the green line between Viau and Lionel-Groulx, as well as on the yellow line between Berri-UQAM and Longueuil — i.e. a large part of the Montreal metro.
In Berri-UQAM, a person would have used this irritating gas, possibly pepper spray, said Thursday Raphaël Bergeron, public relations agent for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
The SPVM has launched an investigation to identify the suspect or suspects, assures agent Bergeron. “Are these people who, during the day, had fun disrupting transport in the metro? It’s a strong possibility,” he said.
Those responsible could face charges of public mischief. “We are talking about events that disrupted an important element of Montreal: the metro. If it’s people who wanted to be funny, it’s not very funny, ”denounces Mr. Bergeron.