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Expo Express
The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo 67) at a cost of around CAD$18 million, the trains carried 1,000 passengers each and ran approximately every five minutes.
In 1968, the cars were sold to the City of Montreal for $1.8 million and operated by the Montreal Transit Commission (now the STM). The train remained in limited service for Man and His World for six additional years, however, on a shortened route from 1969-onwards when tracks were cut back to Saint Helen's Island. Service ended in 1973.
Not to be confused with the Minirail monorail which ran within the perimeters of the Expo Site, the Expo Express used standard railway technology, with two running rails and a third electrified rail identical to those of the Toronto subway. In fact, the trains used were a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley H series used by the Toronto Transit Commission with one fewer door on each side, 3 instead of 4 and streamlined ends. Consequently, unlike the Montreal Metro with rubber tires, the Expo Express used traditional steel-wheeled trains. The Expo Express also featured fully air-conditioned passenger cars, also unlike Montreal's underground Metro (a deficiency that still exists to present day).
The fleet of rolling stock consisted of 48 cars in total, with the name of a sponsoring Canadian city or local municipality inscribed in large lettering on both sides of each car (e.g. "Richmond, B.C.", "Town of Mount Royal", "Point Claire, Quebec", "Cornwall, Ontario"). The 16 streamlined end cars all had motor-generator (MG) sets but no air compressors; 8 of them also had ATO equipment. Of the 32 intermediate cars, 24 had compressors and 8 had MG sets. Typical consists were: one end car with ATO equipment; 3 intermediate cars with compressors; one intermediate car with MG; and one end car without ATO equipment.
The Expo Express was the first fully-automated rapid transit system in North America, utilizing an Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system based on audio frequency track circuits furnished by the Union Switch & Signal division of Westinghouse Air Brake Company. This fact, however, was not widely publicized during the fair, as it was felt the public would not readily board a train controlled entirely by a computer. Operators from Montreal's transit union were placed in cabs at the front and given mundane tasks such as opening and closing the doors of the train to reduce boredom.
This resulted in a minor incident during the fair, at La Ronde station. The conductor had pressed the button to close the doors and proceed, but his train had already sensed an oncoming express from Notre Dame Island and automatically delayed the go command to let it roll in. In the meantime, the driver realized he had forgotten his lunch. However, he could not exit through the passenger doors because his train was in a "wait" state and would not allow the doors to open. Instead, he crawled through the small cab window. By the time he had fetched his lunch, however, the oncoming train had pulled in and his train had taken off on its own. It crossed the bridge over the Le Moyne Channel, proceeded along the seaway, and came to a smooth stop at Notre Dame Island station where an Expo official was waiting. This person crawled back through the cab window and pressed the button to open the doors and let the passengers disembark.[citation needed]
The route had 5 stations: Place d'accueil, Habitat '67, Place des Nations, Ile Notre-Dame and La Ronde.
The line started at the southern end of Cite du Havre, with the Place d'accueil station adjacent to the Bonadventure Expressway. It headed north, where a half-mile down was the Habitat '67 station (eliminated early on, due to low use) after which it turned east and crossed over the Saint Lawrence river by means of the Concordia Bridge. The next stop was on Saint Helen's island, with the Place des Nations station situated on the Concordia bridge, between Places Des Nation and Swan Lake. It was followed by a crossing over the Moyne Channel to Notre-Dame Island, with the Ile Notre-Dame station further up on the Pont des Iles bridge, next to the Man the Producer pavilion. From there, the line turned north and traveled alongside the Saint Lawrence seaway until crossing the Moyne Channel again, via a westwards train bridge to La Ronde station–the terminus at the fairground entrance.
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Expo Express
The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo 67) at a cost of around CAD$18 million, the trains carried 1,000 passengers each and ran approximately every five minutes.
In 1968, the cars were sold to the City of Montreal for $1.8 million and operated by the Montreal Transit Commission (now the STM). The train remained in limited service for Man and His World for six additional years, however, on a shortened route from 1969-onwards when tracks were cut back to Saint Helen's Island. Service ended in 1973.
Not to be confused with the Minirail monorail which ran within the perimeters of the Expo Site, the Expo Express used standard railway technology, with two running rails and a third electrified rail identical to those of the Toronto subway. In fact, the trains used were a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley H series used by the Toronto Transit Commission with one fewer door on each side, 3 instead of 4 and streamlined ends. Consequently, unlike the Montreal Metro with rubber tires, the Expo Express used traditional steel-wheeled trains. The Expo Express also featured fully air-conditioned passenger cars, also unlike Montreal's underground Metro (a deficiency that still exists to present day).
The fleet of rolling stock consisted of 48 cars in total, with the name of a sponsoring Canadian city or local municipality inscribed in large lettering on both sides of each car (e.g. "Richmond, B.C.", "Town of Mount Royal", "Point Claire, Quebec", "Cornwall, Ontario"). The 16 streamlined end cars all had motor-generator (MG) sets but no air compressors; 8 of them also had ATO equipment. Of the 32 intermediate cars, 24 had compressors and 8 had MG sets. Typical consists were: one end car with ATO equipment; 3 intermediate cars with compressors; one intermediate car with MG; and one end car without ATO equipment.
The Expo Express was the first fully-automated rapid transit system in North America, utilizing an Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system based on audio frequency track circuits furnished by the Union Switch & Signal division of Westinghouse Air Brake Company. This fact, however, was not widely publicized during the fair, as it was felt the public would not readily board a train controlled entirely by a computer. Operators from Montreal's transit union were placed in cabs at the front and given mundane tasks such as opening and closing the doors of the train to reduce boredom.
This resulted in a minor incident during the fair, at La Ronde station. The conductor had pressed the button to close the doors and proceed, but his train had already sensed an oncoming express from Notre Dame Island and automatically delayed the go command to let it roll in. In the meantime, the driver realized he had forgotten his lunch. However, he could not exit through the passenger doors because his train was in a "wait" state and would not allow the doors to open. Instead, he crawled through the small cab window. By the time he had fetched his lunch, however, the oncoming train had pulled in and his train had taken off on its own. It crossed the bridge over the Le Moyne Channel, proceeded along the seaway, and came to a smooth stop at Notre Dame Island station where an Expo official was waiting. This person crawled back through the cab window and pressed the button to open the doors and let the passengers disembark.[citation needed]
The route had 5 stations: Place d'accueil, Habitat '67, Place des Nations, Ile Notre-Dame and La Ronde.
The line started at the southern end of Cite du Havre, with the Place d'accueil station adjacent to the Bonadventure Expressway. It headed north, where a half-mile down was the Habitat '67 station (eliminated early on, due to low use) after which it turned east and crossed over the Saint Lawrence river by means of the Concordia Bridge. The next stop was on Saint Helen's island, with the Place des Nations station situated on the Concordia bridge, between Places Des Nation and Swan Lake. It was followed by a crossing over the Moyne Channel to Notre-Dame Island, with the Ile Notre-Dame station further up on the Pont des Iles bridge, next to the Man the Producer pavilion. From there, the line turned north and traveled alongside the Saint Lawrence seaway until crossing the Moyne Channel again, via a westwards train bridge to La Ronde station–the terminus at the fairground entrance.
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