Mobile network in the métro: Orange line now fully connected!

News

With Montmorency station now connected to the mobile network, the orange line is now fully covered. The blue line should also be completed by the end of this year.

Montmorency was added today to the list of Montréal métro stations where transit users can access cutting-edge 3G, 4G and 4G LTE technologies. It is the 47th and most recent station to be connected and means that the Orange line, the system’s busiest in terms of ridership and longest with 30 kilometres of tunnels, now has full mobile communications coverage. In addition to the Orange line, segments of the Green line between Lionel-Groulx and Beaudry and the Blue line between Snowdon and Jean-Talon, and the entire Yellow line are already connected.

2019: East then west
The remaining Blue line stations should be connected by the end of the year, and in 2019 work will focus on making the mobile communications network available on the Green line in the stations and tunnels between Beaudry and Honoré-Beaugrand, and then from Lionel-Groulx to Angrignon. Ultimately, in 2020, mobile coverage will be available throughout the métro system.

Compliance with project parameters
The project is on target, on time and on budget, even though deploying a mobile communications network in the métro is a complex operation, in terms of both the infrastructure’s design and installation. The project involves steps such as connecting optical fibers, installing antennas in tunnels and stations, and adding buildings to house the service providers’ equipment across the entire system. Certain parts of the métro also have to be completely reconfigured. On top of all this, the teams can only work two-and-a-half hours a night, when the métro is closed.

Tests are then conducted to measure the network’s speed, coverage, reliability and capacity, and see how it reacts under heavy usage.

The $50 million investment required for deployment of the project is split equally between the STM’s partners, namely Bell, Rogers, Telus — the project integrator — and Vidéotron.

With cutting-edge connectivity available in its stations, trains and tunnels, the Montréal métro is part of a select group of subway systems in the world that provide access to this technology — for the great benefit of transit users, whose travel experience is significantly improved.