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'Central Station' (French 'Gare Centrale') is the primary railway station in Montreal, Canada.
The station is owned by CN and is situated in the heart of downtown Montreal at 895 De La Gauchetière St. W., in the borough of Ville-Marie.

Contents

History

Intercity transport

Commuter rail

Connections

Buses

STM Night routes

Other facilities

External links

History

Central Station sits above and next to the site of the old Canadian Northern Railway's now-demolished Tunnel Terminal.
At the end of the 1920s, the newly formed Canadian National Railways struggled with disparate Montreal terminals (Bonaventure Station, Tunnel Terminal, Moreau Street Station, and McGill Street) and sought to consolidate them. The solution chosen was to take advantage of the Mount Royal Tunnel to bring trains from the north and east through the tunnel to a big electrified central station. Trains from the south and west gained access by a new elevated viaduct. (Interurban electric trains, however, ended up remaining at McGill Street terminal until the service was abandoned in 1956.) The new station plan allowed for the development of air-rights, similar to Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in New York City.
Construction started at the end of the 1920s, but was halted during the Great Depression. Construction resumed during World War II and the new station finally opened on July 14, 1943, as the first of a series of large-scale urban redevelopment projects undertaken by CNR and the federal government in downtown Montreal. Central Station was designed by architect John Campbell Merrett.
The opening of a 'central' station was part of a consolidation project undertaken by CNR since 1929 with the enactment of the 'Canadian National Montreal Terminals Act, 1929' by Parliament; this saw the closure of former temporary stations operated by CNR predecessors Grand Trunk (Bonaventure Station) and Canadian Northern.
Central Station was an important passenger station for CN trains from 1943 until the creation of VIA Rail in 1978. Following VIA's full absorption of CP's passenger trains in 1979, intercity rail traffic from Windsor Station was consolidated at Central Station. CN still owns the station but announced on May 18, 2007 that it plans to sell the station and leaseback the headquarters and railway passenger facilities [1].
On September 3, 1984, Central Station was bombed, killing 3 people and injuring 30. The bomb was set by retired American armed forces officer Thomas Bernard Brigham, who claimed to have been protesting Pope John Paul II's visit to Canada.

Intercity transport

VIA Rail runs trains from Central Station along the Windsor–Quebec City corridor to Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec City, as well as long-distance services to Saguenay, Senneterre, Gaspé, and Halifax. Amtrak offers daily service to New York City.

Commuter rail

Central Station also serves passengers using Montreal's commuter rail service known as AMT. The station is a hub for the Deux-Montagnes and Mont-Saint-Hilaire lines. Central Station is in Fare Zone 1. It is one of the two downtown terminals for Montreal commuter trains, the other being 'Lucien-L'Allier'.

Connections

Buses

STM, Regular routes

Route Name	Route Map	Schedule
36 Monk	Map	Schedule
61 Wellington	Map	Schedule
74 Bridge	Map	Schedule
75 de la Commune	Map	Schedule
107 Verdun (2 blocks west on boul. René Lévesque ouest / rue Peel)	Map	Schedule
150 René-Lévesque (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
168 Cité du Havre	Map	Schedule
410 Express Notre-Dame (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
420 Express Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
430 Express Pointe-aux-trembles (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule
535 Voie réservée Du Parc / Côte-des-Neiges (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule

STM Night routes

Route Name	Route Map	Schedule
358 Sainte-Catherine (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Schedule

AMT

Route Name	Route Map	Schedule
935 Trainbus Blainville / Centreville (on boul. René Lévesque ouest)	Map	Afternoon schedule

Downtown Terminus

Metro stations===

★ Bonaventure (Orange Line)

★ Square-Victoria (Orange Line)

Other facilities

Central Station is located adjacent to CN Headquarters and is an important link in the underground city, with tunnels to Place Ville-Marie, Place Bonaventure, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, 1000 de La Gauchetière and the Bonaventure metro station.
The station includes Les Halles de la Gare, a shopping and restaurant complex. It also contains two parking facilities, one of which is a multi-level facility that is located above the station. The Dow Planetarium is located nearby.

External links

★ AMT station page, Deux-Montagnes Line (in French)

★ AMT station page, Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line (in French)

★ Montreal VIA & Amtrak Station (Train Web) (in English)