STM - Society in motion

Voix off : “A breath of air for the métro”

Speaker 1: Dominic Lemay, Senior Director, Métro Network We are now in Berri station. The STM’s staff works very hard to maintain a comfortable temperature in the metro at all times. It’s a challenge, often underestimated, but one that’s in fact quite complex. Speaker 2 : As you know, there is new rolling stock on the way, to replace our original métro cars that are now 45 years old. For now, we call it MPM-10, and it’ll have an improved ventilation system, to really improve ventilation for the comfort of passengers. Speaker 1 : As part of our Réno-Systèmes program, we are also working hard on renovating and upgrading the métro’s stationary equipment, particularly the ventilation system. Speaker 3 : We’re now standing in front of one of the métro’s 90 ventilation stations. This one will soon be commissioned into service. From its outside appearance, you can’t really tell it’s a ventilation station, but it is, and its purpose is to control the temperature inside the métro. Now, we’re at the lower level with the mechanical ventilation equipment. That equipment is electrically powered from a dedicated power supply, while the telecommunications equipment allows us to switch between functions, from blowing in fresh air to extracting foul air from the underground levels. Speaker 4 : I’m often asked this question: Why is there no air conditioning in the Montréal métro and why can’t we add air conditioning ? It’s possible to do so in the metro. The Hong Kong metro is air-conditioned, both railcars and stations. However, the Hong Kong metro was built in early 2000 and was designed to be air-conditioned. The metro in Montréal was designed back in the sixties, and air-conditioning was not part of the plan. The New York subway, for example, is very different from ours. Here, all our tunnels are underground, whereas in New York, the subway system is partly underground, partly above-ground. There, the extremities of tunnels are outside, which makes it easier for the heat to escape from underground. So, in our underground network, if we added air-conditioning units aboard MPM-10 métro cars, they would release a lot of heat. We asked specialized firms to conduct studies, and they confirmed that the heat would be trapped underground and that our tunnel configuration would prevent it from escaping. The net result would be a 3 degree increase in temperature inside stations. Also, installing air-conditioning in each station would cost billions of dollars. So instead, the STM has chosen to invest in ventilation stations like this one. They perform well and are quite efficient in terms of purging the heat from the network. We are also focusing on improving our control over these equipments, to raise their efficiency. And let’s not forget that the older MR-63 railcars will soon be taken out of service and be replaced by the MPM-10 that will produce a lot less heat. Speaker 1 : In closing, if we look at the measures included in our action plan, and at what will be installed in the métro in the next few years, breathing will be a lot easier in the métro compared to today.

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