Exo is the commuter rail network that serves the greater Montreal, Quebec area with 5 train lines, 52 stations, 148.5 mi (239 km) of track, and over 77,000 daily riders. Since the commuter rail's opening in July 1982 under the STCUM (known as the Society of Montreal Transport), the network is known as the second busiest commuter rail line in Canada behind GO Transit of Toronto. The Saint Jerome line (exo2) serves 14 stations across a 39 mile (62.8 km) route traveling south from Saint Jerome, passes south through West Montreal to Lucien L'Allier. Canadian Pacific (CP Rail) owns the majority of the line between Lucien L'Allier and Saint Jerome. There are two train yards that are outside of the Montreal Ouest station about 1 mile south of the station, one being an Exo yard and the other being CP Rail's Saint Luc yard. The inclusion of these two yards can include yard work, and passenger deadheads which can offer about 20 services in timetable mode. With freight trains on the Saint Jerome line, trains can depart out of St. Luc yard and head north along the Exo route. However, freight services would have to end in a siding outside the Sainte Therese station. Exo owns the line from there to St. Jerome, and CP splits off from Exo. Additionally, Exo has a yard outside of the Saint Jerome station for trains to be stored, and can include additional deadhead services to/from the yard (10-14 services). On a typical weekday, the Saint Jerome line operates 14 round trips between Lucien L'Allier and Saint Jerome, in combination with the yard and freight services, the Saint Jerome line alone could see over 50 services in timetable mode. The Candiac line (exo4) serves 9 stations and has a length of 16 miles (25.6 km) and shares the southern terminus at Lucien L'Allier and travels further south to its terminus at Candiac. This line uses the same yard in Montreal as the Saint Jerome line along with four storage tracks south of Candiac. CP Rail also travels along this route and is the owner of the trackage, allowing for freight services to operate in/out of St. Luc yard and travel to/from Candiac. Since there is no official yard for CP Rail in Candiac, the freight services would continue about 5 miles past the Candiac station to a siding where the trains can be parked for the end of a scenario. This siding would also be the starting point for inbound freight trains to the St. Luc yard. The Candiac line weekday schedule as of August 2022 has nine round trips between Lucien L’Allier and Candiac. Additional scenarios such as deadheads and freight services to/from St. Luc yard can also be added, making -at least- additional 50 scenarios. In total, over one hundred scenarios would be playable in timetable mode across all lines, and provide a mix of passenger and freight trains. There are no Canadian passenger routes present on TSW, and I think that this would make a good addition to TSW. Saint Jerome line map: Candiac line map: Rolling Stock: *Exo ordered 10 Siemens SC-44 Charger locomotives in early 2022 to replace the EMD F59PH. Could be a potential add on in the future. EMD F59PH EMD F59PHI ALP-45DP 3000 series MultiLevel Coach CabCar Bombardier Bi-level coach CabCar CP Rail AC4400CWM
Excellent idea and if they make this route the following train can be reskinned to NJ Transit paint Based on these pictures it seems Montreal did piggyback on a NJ Transit order for the same train. AMT Montreal 1300s ALP-45DP are the base model for NJ Transit ALP-45DP fleet 4500-4534 2012 builds while 2021-present are 4535 and up. If Montreal was the first route to get ALP-45DP.
Nice to see a Montreal area route suggestion! If given a vote, I'd go for Saint-Jérôme. I'd say although classified as a commuter line, it heads so far out of the city it should really be considered a regional line. Of course, the Candiac line has the epic bridge over the Saint Lawrence river going for it.
