An Efficient and Evolving Commuter Network - Montreal's EXO

Bonjour et bienvenue à la Gare Lucien-L’Allier, Lucien-L’Allier station. Today we’re taking a look at EXO, Montreal’s commuter rail service, from here out to Ile-Perrot.

_Trip Information_
Train: EXO Vaudreuil-Hudson Train 15
Locomotive: EMD F59PHI 1324
Consist: 6 Bombardier Multi-Level Coaches
Departure Time: 12:30 pm
Arrival Time: 13:22 pm
Journey Time: 0 hr 51 min
Ticket Price: $6.50

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_First Class:_
Jonas Jonson
Caleb
Eli Taubman
Devin Clancy
Kevin Lippes
Cameron Buongiorno
Jason D
Arlington Public Transit
Wayno Guerrini
Alexander Aznavoorian
JC The Beard
Burton
Christopher Style
Matt Cain
Chris Soukas
Alexandre Veilleux
Grant Baron
Zukesers

_Business Class:_
James Schock
Lucas Ohlig
Jeff Banks
Joshuwa Watkin
Miles Jajich

_Coach Class:_
Marlo Fairhurst
Arthur Sievers
Stephen Keever
Sam Jennings
Michael Cronin
Claudio Bickle
MattySlav
Michelle Gruben
Jesse Becker
lebjohnson
Damian Cooper
Elizabeth Chamberlain

#EXO #Montreal #CommuterRail

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[LetsAndGlOfficial]

As a Montreal citizen, I can tell you that I really enjoy riding on Exo! Thanks for coming out to Montreal to check out our commuter rail!

[jfmezei]

You mention the small "compact" station at Lucien Lallier. Glad you were able to find it because from La Gauchetière (now "Avenue des Canadiens), they are not allowed to put a sign to tell people where entrance is (you have to walk under a condo building).
Not mentioned in your video is the worse than PennCentral case performed in the early 1990s in Montréal when Windsor Station stoped being a train station because CP Rail had wanted to convert it to real estate for so long. And to achieve this, unlike New York that built hockey areas above tracks, CO Rail purposefully built hockey arena to forever block tracks from reaching Windsor Station ever again. They were not allowed to demolish the station, but now that is is no lonegr a train station, protections are greatly diminsihed and as soon as the tracks were cut, CP which had promiused to keep its HQ in Montréal announced it was moving to Calgary and sold the whole lot to Caddillac Fairvew, a shopping mall developper who then completed CP's task of condemning the station by building condos and office towers where there used to be the massive train shed.

During the construction, there was no station at all, just a pathway under hoarding to get to the platforms. And CP relented and allowed a small part of the hockey arena to be used for makeshift station and that is what we are stuck with today. Windsor Station was connected to the Bonaventure Métro station (and thus all of the underground pedestrian network). Lucien L'allier will close mid April 2024 because the platforms have become dangerous. However, because these are still CP rail tracks, CP will not allow platforms that won't let its freight trains pass through (even though CP doesn't have freight going downtown). So when it re-opens partially in September (so November/DEcember in real terms), it will have same low platforms with a huge step up to the cars.

[Grahamrobinsonvt]

Montreal is a great city can not wait to get back

[jfmezei]

The Bombardier Multi-Level are now "Alstom Adessia Coach". Alstom has not "adopted" the Hawker Siddeley bi-levels which Go Train and many otehsr use. (Bombardier bought the company that had bought Hawker Siddeley). The last order for the "Adessia Coach" was from NJ Transit just before the death of Bombardier and those are "new" in that the are to be EMUs with space in each car for the electric systems to drive motors.
Not clear if Alstom will continue to sell the bi-level. Now that FRA has relented and agreed to allow aluminium shell trains (the GO trains date from before those rules and were grand fathered), the Go Train model is far lighter and has better acceleration than the very steel heavy multi levels.

With Go train in Toronto being electrified with higher frequencies, it may mean a very significant fleet change and might signal end of the Bi-Levels.

The Multi Levels were developped for NJ Transit in USA and AMT/EXO rode on the same order with a few modifications. (same with the duel power locos which are very quiet in diesel mode compared to the other locos). Both have high level doors on the mid level deck. They are used for the remaining services from Gare Centrale. But, on the NJ Transit version, the end car vestibule doors are hybrid with ability to open for high level platforms or low level platforms. (The EXO version has a metal plaque covering where the mechanism for sliding cover over stairwell would be). For NJ Transit, this means 4 effective doors per car for high level platforms (most of its network) and for the few stations at low level 2 doors with the ackward steep steps down.
Nj Transit has specified shorter cars to better handle curves on its network. At one point, EXO wanted to place an order but with longer coaches and Bombardier charged an arm and a leg and unsure of delivery times (Bombardier was already planning its liquidation) so EXO ordered from CRCC.
Longer coaches are mroe efficient for capacity as you need less wasted space for vestibules and inter-car gaps. But for NJ Transit, shorter coaches mean more doors per passengers so shorter dwell times. Dwell times are strictly controlled at Penn Central station as the only way to achieve current frequencies.

[Quietloud]

Ha, I live here and didn't even know there were bathrooms aboard. The only downside with Exo is their frequency. It's a comfortable service and can even be faster than the metro between some stops, but it often runs hourly at best and some lines don't even run on the weekend at all!

[stinkyroadhog]

Nice video! Oh, it's only a small thing but when referring to Canadian Pacific, it's technically a railroad that doesn't exist anymore. Officially, it's CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) now.

[jessicaburdell]

I'm glad to see another passenger road, other than Metra, that still preserves and plans to keep in service their F59PHI fleet.

[TheRandCrews]

Wow this has to be the first time I’ve seen someone call this train efficient and reliable, I mean it’s just pretty typical peak time commuter rail services compared to others like GO with all day trains. But nonetheless hopefully Montreal Exo improve the either with more trains during the day or even upgrade the trains into a regional metro like the REM. Was great to see, was going to use it to go to Exporail, but due to time constraints I wouldn’t be able to get a train back to downtown.

Crazy Exo doesn’t have service to St.Jean-sur-Richelieu with like 100k population, with a major military training base beside it, southeast of Montreal.

[QuebecFietser]

thanks for doing a review of our EXO trains!
you got it pretty much spot on, EXO does operate the multilevels on some lines that operate out of gare centrale and have a mix of high and low platforms. i hope i get to use EXO's commuter train network more often

[rupak-travelmoments]

It's really a mind-blowing presentation of the magical train journey !! Greetings from India.

[centredoorplugsthornton]

The one station with high level platforms is Gare Centrale, the CN station. Its Exo line goes to the south shore, Ste Hilaire.
Gare Centrale previously hosted the Deux Montagnes line, the only electrified commuter line in Canada. It's shut down for rebuilding to the REM, an automated light rail line with no resemblance or compatibility with any other commuter or metro line in Montreal. Its development forced the Deux Montagnes line to shut down, other lines to be truncated, early retirement of 58 electric MU cars and redundancy of the 20 dual mode units.

[EdPMur]

I would LOVE to use these trains more often, they’re very comfortable. The problem is the extremely low frequency (often over 3 hours between trains). They run so little service that it’s basically unusable outside of rush hours or if you live downtown and want to go to a suburb.

[dennisthebrony]

7:03 EXO will also have Siemens Chargers soon as well, to supplement those new coaches, and retire their old F59s

[jfmezei]

Île Perrot Station was rebuilt in summer 2022. There had been discussion on EXO closing it permanently or rebuilt it as a normal station should plans to eliminate level crossing go through. This is a problem level crossing due to the amount of train traffic and issued with proximity of metal deck bridge for CN. If road passes under tracks, it means total rethink of the station.
Normally, westbound trains always stop with tail of train clear of the crossing on the north side platform (which is longer). Eastbound trains stop on the south platform whcih is much shorter. The goal is to minimize how long the crossing gates are down. About 15 years ago, CP finally upgraded signals from Dorval to just beyond Dorion to go from 1940s ABS to bi-directionsl CTC and since then, EXO trains have more random platform assignements (as happened on your westbound train using the small patform meant for eastbound).
BTW, there is a bus terminal just south of the station with EXO buses serving Île Perrot. The bus schedules are coordinated with trains during weekdays.

[kiddo]

Thanks for this review. I think Exo has a lot of potential given its large network, but service frequency is abysmal when compared with Toronto’s GO transit. Given the opening of the REM in coming years, I think Exo should focus on more longer-distance trips rather than serving Montreal island, which will be quite well served with future REM systems.

[Canadiantrainfan]

The exo train is ok but its trying to get better! It cant compare to the GO train but its trying to evolve! As a montrealer, its an ok commuter train service!

[jaclm]

Thanks for the video. Like others have said, I'm a bit surprised at your description, since Exo is almost universally derided here in Montreal for being a slow, inflexible, commuter-oriented network. It's hamstrung by the majority of its network being owned by CP and CN and is thus unable to provide proper all-day service and/or to electrify any of the lines it operates, both of which would be vital to forming a proper regional railway network. Couple this with low-level platforms (again largely because of the freight railways) and slow operating speeds (some stations on the Vaudreuil line are barely a half-mile apart) and you get a network that has largely stagnated over the past decades.

Exo's parent, ARTM (the regional planning authority) is facing a major cash crunch right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see service cuts in the coming months unless the province steps in with more money. They lost their biggest revenue generator in the Deux-Montagnes line to the REM, and to add insult to injury, they now have to pay a massive subsidy to the REM for its operation, a subsidy that far eclipses any other mode of transportation in the city.

At the same time, despite having had the rug pulled out from under them, ARTM (and their predecessor AMT) hasn't shown that they have any competence or leadership when it comes to planning and managing transportation in the city. About the only thing of substance they've done so far is the rebranding of all suburban trains and buses to "Exo" plus a mediocre revamp of the city's fare-zone system. They've thrown billions of dollars at wasteful, unnecessary projects (the Mascouche line being the most prominent example) and their attempts at planning future projects always end up with overly expensive, pie-in-the-sky projections that have no chance of ever becoming reality (their proposed underground alternative to the REM de l'Est.) The organization has a history of being led by political appointees with little experience in transportation planning, and is in desperate need of some competent leadership - and if we can't find that kind of talent at home, it's time to go overseas, as Metrolinx did when they hired former head of Scotrail Phil Verster as their president. Despite some setbacks, Toronto is doing a much better job with their overall transportation plan than Montreal is.

[altzigb]

Bro is literally doing my daily commute

[marcleslac]

As a montreal local, the VH line is my line I take.

[de-fault_de-fault]

So weird to see the other version of the Bombardier Multilevels. NJ Transit’s ones are the same age and look about the same inside so I’m guessing Exo’s have not been refurbished either. The only real difference is that ours have the luggage racks (on the upper level only). I’m also just about the only person that uses them, so I don’t blame Exo for skipping that feature. I’m curious about the low-level-only operation though. Does Exo only use the vestibule doors then? Seems like sticking with the more conventional bilevels would have served better in that case.