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 Press releases
Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke
Station
New name
now official
Montreal, September 26, 2003
– Earlier today, senior officials of
the Société de transport de Montréal and of the Université de Sherbrooke
formalized the change in the south shore métro station’s name, from
Longueuil to Longueuil –Université-de-Sherbrooke.
Held at the newly renamed station, the event was attended by the Chairman of
the STM Board of Directors, Mr. Claude Dauphin, the Rector of the Université
de Sherbrooke, Mr. Bruno-Marie Béchard, and by the Vice-President of
Longueuil’s Executive Committee and Chairman of the Board of Directors of
the Réseau de transport de Longueuil, Mr. Claude Gladu.
Members
of the STM Board of Directors had approved the name change in November 2002,
thereby responding favourably to a request by the Université de Sherbrooke,
which has maintained a campus adjacent to the métro station for the past 15
years in addition to being well established in the Eastern Townships for
over 40 years. From now on, the institution’s name will be formally
associated with Montreal’s métro system, following in the steps of the
Université du Québec à Montréal (Berri-UQAM station), of the Université de
Montréal (Université-de-Montréal station), of McGill University (McGill
station), and of Concordia University (Guy-Concordia station).
Moreover, the Commission de toponymie du Québec had formalized the
name change on August 13, deeming that the Université de Sherbrooke campus
plays an important role in Longueuil. Indeed, the 10 000 people connected to
the institution, including over 9 500 students and interns, as well as
faculty members teaching and conducting research, all contribute
significantly to the development of the Metropolitan Montreal area.
Mr.
Dauphin pointed out that « this change reflects the will of the community.
It is based on a request by the Université de Sherbrooke, which was
unanimously supported by Longueuil council members, as well as by the South
Shore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.»
He also
indicated that « the agreement between the STM and the Université de
Sherbrooke stipulates that the latter will assume all costs pertaining to
the change. The new name has indeed begun to appear in the métro and in
various STM documents. However, in order to avoid substancial costs, the
name will gradually be changed on customer information tools as they are
being updated. »
In turn, Mr. Béchard emphasized the new,
metropolitan-wide visibility that will result from the move made by the
Université de Sherbrooke in Longueuil: « Increasingly, Montreal, Laval and
Longueuil residents understand the advantages of evolving into truly
metropolitan citizens, by not limiting themselves to their respective
cities, but rather by combining the strengths of the three cities
encompassed by Metropolitan Montreal. Acknowledging the presence of five
firmly established institutions within the metropolitan area provides a
perfect example of this outlook. Indeed, having a regional scope, instead of
one limited to Montreal, projects a positive vision for the future.»
As for
Mr. Gladu, he considers it both justifiable and desirable that Longueuil
should emphasize its academic vocation by way of a métro station bearing the
name of the institution it has chosen as its main partner for development.
In that sense, the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke name given to
the métro station serves as a reminder to the population that the City of
Longueuil can also boast having a large-scale university campus. »
It was on March 31, 1967,
that the Longueuil métro station was inaugurated, shortly before Expo 67
opened. Over seven million commuters transit the station each year, making
it the network’s fifth busiest station in 2002, behind McGill, Berri-UQAM,
Henri-Bourassa and Guy-Concordia.
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