1960: Jean Drapeau is elected mayor of the City of Montreal, and the construction of a metro is included in his party's program. Without delay, many city services begin studies on August 1, 1960, aiming for the construction of a metro. A few months later, on November 3, Montreal's municipal council votes in order to allow 132 million dollars in credits for the construction and equipment of an initial 16-kilometre long system. At last, after 51 years of street congestion, of delays, of studies, it is decided to construct a metro.

As seen earlier in this series, most studies for an underground system in the city have recommended a north-south line on the east side of Mont-Royal reaching the business district on St-James, and another one, on an east-west axis, along St-Catherine Street. Accordingly, the proposed initial system suggests the creation of two lines: Crémazie to Place-D'Armes, and Atwater to Frontenac.

Construction began on May 23, 1962. By the same time, Montreal learns that it will be hosting the 1967 World Fair. In order to be able to handle the anticipated transportation demand to Expo 67, decision is swiftly taken to extend line 2 up to Henri-Bourassa in its northern part, and to add Square-Victoria and Bonaventure stations in the west. It is also decided to affix a new line to the initial system: Line 4 between Berri-De-Montigny and Longueuil.

This is kind of a surprise, for since the inauguration of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in 1930, no study ever mentioned the possibility of creating such a line. It is of interest to note that line 4 took the place of proposed line 3 which was supposed to run northbound through the Mount-Royal tunnel, and the CNR right-of-way. Line 3 never was realized.

The total cost for the three initial lines was 213.7 million dollars. 105 contracts needed to be awarded for the realization, the most important being the one to the Canadian Vickers (45.5 M$) for the fabrication study, the manufacturing, and delivery of the metro cars. At the peek of the project, 5,000 direct and indirect jobs were created for the construction of the metro. The 60s happen to be prosperous years for construction workers and to the economy in general, since workforce is also needed for the Expo 67, and Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine tunnel projects.

On October 14, 1966, after about four years of large-scale work, the City of Montreal hands over the metro to the Montreal Transportation Commission for its operation. On this same day the metro is opened to the public. This red letter day for the city is magnificently celebrated. Montreal becomes the 8th city in North America, and the 26th in the world to have an underground transportation system. Frontenac, Beaudry, Victoria and Bonaventure Stations, not yet completed at the time, opened on the following months. As for line 4, it will be inaugurated on April 1, 1967, just in time for the Expo.