Red Line (Montreal Metro)

Montréal Métro 1961 project with line 3 in red and proposed extensions in yellow

The Red Line (French: Ligne rouge), also known as Line 3 (French: Ligne 3), was a proposed line of the Montreal Metro.

Proposed as part of the Metro in the early 1960s, the line would have run north–south from downtown Montreal, under Mount Royal in the Mount Royal Tunnel, using CN tracks and have ended at Cartierville (western) of Bordeaux-Cartierville.^[1]

The line was cancelled because:

Trains would have to use steel wheels instead of rubber tires like the rest of the Metro cars because part (or most) of the line would have been exposed to the elements.^[2]
There was a lack of agreement between CN, the City of Montreal and other municipalities regarding costs.^[2]
Expo 67 made the construction of the Yellow Line a priority.^[2]

The line was still planned for construction as a "regional metro" line in the early 1980s, reduced to a total of 9 stations.

The tracks were used by the commuter rail Deux-Montagnes line between 1995 and 2020, and will eventually form the central section of the Réseau express métropolitain upon the completion of the Deux-Montagnes branch.

1982 list of planned stations

The following stations were planned for the line:^[3]

Gare Centrale
Vincent D'Indy
Mont-Royal
Côte-Vertu
Bois-Franc
A-Ma-Baie
Roxboro
Laval
Deux-Montagnes

References

^ "Why is there no line 3?". Everything about the STM. Société de transport de Montréal. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Magder, Jason (13 Oct 2016). "The métro at 50: Building the network". Montreal Gazette.
^ "Le Métro fait surface: La ligne 6". Quebec Science, vol. 21, no. 3, Nov. 1982. Ministere des Transports du Quebec and le Conseil des Transports de la region de Montreal.