Montréal Metro turns 60

Creation of the metro

The Montreal City Passenger Railway Company was founded in 1861 and was the first of many Montréal public transport companies that existed before the STM was established in 2002. 

Urban transit in Montréal began with horse-drawn trams – called streetcars in North America – from 1861 to 1886. Montréal’s first electric tram appeared in 1892 and was nicknamed “the Rocket”. Buses came into service in 1919 and the first trolley buses were used in 1937. The replacement of tram lines by buses began in 1951, and the last tram was withdrawn from service in 1959.

There had been talk of opening a metro in Montréal ever since the London Underground in England – the oldest underground metro system in the world – opened in 1863. But over the decades proposals were sidetracked for various reasons, from the Great Depression to World War Two.

The election in 1960 of Jean Drapeau as Mayor of Montréal marked the true beginning Montréal’s metro. A blueprint was presented on October 20, 1961, and the city allocated $132 million (later increased to $213 million) to build the metro. 

As the STM explains, “The basic principles that would make the Montreal métro famous were quickly decided: first métro to run only on tires, an entirely underground network, and a different architectural design for each station.”

Dates and numbers

Construction of the initial network was entrusted to the City and its Bureau du metro which was headed by senior engineer Lucien L’Allier.

• Designed by Jacques Roy for the firm Jacques Guillon et Associés, the symbol of the Montréal metro was presented to the city’s executive on January 16, 1963. When the métro opened in 1966, the symbol was used in all of the network’s signage, and today is part of Montréal’s heritage.
• The Canadian Vickers company built and delivered the first of 369 MR-63 metro cars on August 24, 1965.
• The MR-63 inaugural metro car, restored to its original appearance, is now on display at Exporail, the Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant.
• At the peak of construction, more than 5,000 people worked to build the metro.

• The first 20 stations were inaugurated on October 14, 1966, with Mayor Drapeau and Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger in attendance.
• A million people rode the metro during its first weekend of operation.
• The initial network was completed in Spring 1967, and had three lines with 26 stations: the green line, from Atwater to Frontenac; the orange line, from Henri-Bourassa to Bonaventure; and the yellow line, from Berri-De Montigny (Berri-UQAM today) to Longueuil.
• Over 130 million trips were recorded in the first year, the same year Expo 67 drew more than 50 million visitors. During Expo 67, the Île-Sainte-Hélène (today’s Jean-Drapeau) station on the yellow line alone handled 418,000 people in one day.

• Île Notre-Dame was built from scratch for Expo 67, using landfill from the excavation of metro tunnels. 
• Work to extend the metro network began on October 14, 1971, ahead of the 1976 Montréal Summer Olympics. The Olympic Park is serviced by the Pie-IX station on the green line.
• More metro stations were added in the 1990s and 2000s. Today, there are a total of 68 stations on four lines, covering 69.2 kilometres (43.0 miles).
• Many downtown stations are connected to Montréal’s famed Underground City.
• In 2007, the STM opened its new underground fire-prevention training facility.
• In October 2010, Bombardier-Alstom consortium was awarded the contract to build 468 new-generation MPM-10 metro cars.
• Each metro station has a different architectural design.
• The metro also plays a prominent role in the city’s artistic and architectural heritage. In 2025 the STM unveiled its 100th work of art in the metro with the installation of the artwork Point de mire at Pie-IX station, created by artist Francis Montillaud. Click here for a full list of all the artworks.
• Montréal’s iconic metro today boasts the second-highest ridership per capita in North America, after only New York City.

Metro 60^th anniversary celebrations

The STM is hosting several events celebrating the 60th anniversary of the metro, including a DJ set inside a metro car in conjunction with Piknic Électronik, a performance by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), and a meet-and-greet with the Montréal Alouettes. Click here for more details and event dates.