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The design of the Metro was heavily influenced by Montreal's winter conditions. Unlike other cities' metros, nearly all station entrances in Montreal are completely enclosed: usually in small, separate buildings with revolving doors designed to prevent heat from escaping. All separate entrances are set back from the sidewalk, however several stations in Downtown Montreal are directly connected to buildings, and thus have several entrances inside pre-existing buildings as well as street-level entrances, making the Metro an integral part of Montreal's famous underground city.
The Montreal Metro was the first metro in the world to run entirely on rubber tires. This is not the reason, however, why it entirely runs underground, as it is so often erroneously stated (the real reason is because the cars are not designed to run above ground; neither the ventilation nor the electrical systems are watertight). Rubber tires make the Métro exceptionally quiet, and also helps metro cars go up hill with more ease and less energy consumption than other metal-tired metros.
All lines but the Yellow Line are equipped with automatic train controls. Signalling is effected though electrical pulses sent through the rails, and picked up by antennas mounted on the cars. The information sent conveys speed information, and it is up to the train automatic control to conform to the imposed speed. In case of manual control, signal indication is displayed by a second needle within the speedometer indicating the maximum permissible speed. The only wayside signals are point position indicators.
Trains are spotted at station stops with a precise odometer (accurate to plus or minus 5 centimetres) that is recalibrated at every station stop by the use of a beacon that is positioned before the station at the precise length of the platform, thus allowing the train control system to calculate exactly how many wheel turns to go before stopping after passing a second beacon positioned at the station entrance.
Montreal's metro is renowned for its architectureArchitecture is the art and science of designing buildings. A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of fu and public artLiberty Enlightening the World by Frederic Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel, a very prominent work of public art La Joute by Jean-Paul Riopelle, an outdoor kinetic sculpture installation with fire jets, fog machines, and a fountain Pierre Granche, a work of i. Under the direction of Mayor Drapeau, a competition among Canadian architectsAn architect is a person licensed in the art of planning, designing and overseeing the construction of buildings, or more generally, the designer of a scheme or plan. See architecture or landscape architecture Architects and landscape architects are consi was held to decide the design of each station, ensuring that every station was built in a different style by a different architect. Several stations, such as Berri-UQAM are important examples of modernistThis article focuses on the cultural movement labeled 'modernism' or 'the modern movement'. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. Just as the ancients drew the in architecture, and various system-wide design choices were informed by the International StyleInternational style also known as the Modern movement is a primarily American offshoot of Bauhaus architecture that was exported to various parts of the world. International style was a major architectural trend in the 1920s and 1930s and is considered th.
Along with the Stockholm MetroThe Stockholm Metro or Stockholms tunnelbana is the metro system in Stockholm, Sweden. The system has three main lines and one hundred stations, 47 of which are subterranean and 53 are surface stations. The Green line has 49 stations: 9 subterranean and 3, Montreal pioneered the installation of public art in the metro among capitalistCapitalism generally refers to a combination of economic practices that became institutionalized in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries. Exactly which historic and current practices are considered part of "capitalism" varies among users of the term countries, a practice that before hand was mostly found in Socialist and Communist nations. More than fifty stations are decorated with over one hundred works of public art, such as sculpture, stained glass, and murals by noted Québécois artists, including members of the famous art movement, the Automatistes.
Some of the most important works in the Metro include the stained-glass window at Champ-de-Mars station, the masterpiece of major Quebec artist Marcelle Ferron; and the Guimard entrance at Square Victoria station, like the famous metro entrances designed for the Paris Metro, donated by the RATP to commemorate its cooperation in constructing the metro. This is the only authentic Guimard entrance in use outside Paris.