Montréal’s Aging (But Still Incredibly Reliable) Metro Fleet
I just ran across this Gazette Article discussing the replacement of Montréal’s 40 odd-year old metro fleet.
“We have the oldest métro cars in the world, which, despite their age, have proved to be the most reliable,” MTC spokesperson Odile Paradis said. “But at some point, we don’t know what may happen. One thing’s for certain: A year’s delay (in getting new cars) makes us that much more vulnerable.”
Translation: There’s nothing wrong with the metro cars, in fact, they’re great. We have to replace them because they’re “old”.
I do agree that there will be some benefit drawn from the new cars - higher speed, linked cars, and lower noise seem to be the biggest draws. Comments like the one above, however, seem to indicate that part of the initiative is just to be new.
March 20th, 2008