Berri-UQAM is the central station of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). It is in the Quartier Latin in the borough of Ville-Marie, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, as part of the original network of the metro. It is the busiest station in the network, transfers not included. If transfers were included, the 12 million passengers number would rise to about 35-40 million a year. Designed by Longpré and Marchand, the station serves three lines: the Green, Orange, and Yellow lines.
The main part of the station is a cruciform cut and cover volume built underneath the intersection of rue Berri and boul. de Maisonneuve; the volume is so large that the station's design had to include massive pillars to support the street.
This central volume contains three levels. The upper level contains the rectangular mezzanine at its centre, with fare barriers on all four sides; the arms extend out to the station's entrances, with two more entrances at the crossing, and are also lined with shops and services.
Staircases lead from the mezzanine to the landings on either side of the orange line. These landings provide views of the great volumes over the green line platforms below.
From the Green Line level, escalators and hallways connect the rest of the station to the Yellow Line terminus, built in tunnel a block away under rue Saint-Denis. Due to limited space in the tail tracks, trains reverse both in the tail tracks and in the foretracks leaving the station.
All three lines have side platforms. This station is was the first to be equipped with the MétroVision information screens which displays news, commercials, and the time till the next train.
Berri-UQAM is named for both Rue Berri, so called since 1663 and named for landholder Simon Després dit Berry, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. (The University has taken to using UQAM as its abbreviation which it displays as UQÀM (with a grave accent over the a) as its logo; the metro station retains the UQAM form.)
October 8, 2018