page_title: Mount Royal Tunnel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Royal Tunnel / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph, C.N.R. tunnel under Mount Royal, Montreal, QC, 1918(?), Wm. Notman &amp; Son, Silver salts on film (nitrate&#160;?) - Gelatin silver process, 19 x 24 cm Français&#160;: Photographie, Tunnel du CN sous le mont Royal, Montréal, QC, 1918 (?), Wm. Notman &amp; Son, Gélatine argentique, 19 x 24 cm
context_page_description: The Mount Royal Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The tunnel is the third longest in Canada, after the Mount Macdonald Tunnel and the Connaught Tunnel, and connects the city's Central Station, in Downtown Montreal, with the north side of Montreal Island and Laval and passes through Mount Royal.
  The tunnel was originally proposed by the Canadian Northern Railway to provide access to Downtown Montreal without having to cross the already-congested area south of Mount Royal or the route around it to the east. The cost of the tunnel, along with an expansion to the west coast of Canada, caused CNoR to struggle financially before it was nationalized in 1918. Canadian National Railways, formed from CNoR and several other lines, took over the just-completed tunnel. When CNR also took over the Grand Trunk Railway in 1923, access to Ottawa and Toronto along the GTR lines made the tunnel largely redundant, and it was limited mostly to branch lines. The structure gauge of the Mount Royal Tunnel limits the height of bilevel cars to 14 feet 6 inches.
  Until 2014, the only trains using the tunnel were commuter trains from Exo's Deux-Montagnes service.
context_section_description: The tunnel was conceived in 1910 by the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) as a means to give the company access to downtown Montreal. The only easy routes along the south side of Mount Royal had long been taken by rivals Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). CNoR wanted to avoid crossing the CPR and GTR lines. Likewise CNoR preferred a direct route as opposed to detouring the railway around the north and east sides of Mount Royal.
  To finance the costly tunnel option, CNoR planned to develop the low-valued farmland north of Mount Royal into a model community which was named the Town of Mount Royal. CNoR also planned a downtown terminal and associated office and retail developments for low-priced lands at de la Gauchetière Street and McGill College Avenue. Several farms which grew the Montreal melon were bought by the builders to make way for the tracks: "There were two years of preliminary bargaining, after which currency by the satchel full was paid over to the owners of the farms which made the Montreal melons famous, in the purchase of their land. More than $1,500,000 was paid out in that way, with currency, in the rush of land speculation that followed the announcement of the plan. One farmer was paid $117,000 and another
  farm brought $781,783." 
  In 1911, the Canadian Northern Montreal Tunnel and Terminal Company was incorporated to build the tunnel and terminal. It was renamed Mount Royal Tunnel and Terminal Company in 1914, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of CNoR. Construction started at the west portal on July 8, 1912. On December 10, 1913, crews from the east and west portals met beneath Mount Royal; they were out of alignment by 1 inch (2.5 cm). The bore measures approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) and has an ascending grade of 0.6% westbound.
  CNoR placed an order with General Electric in 1914 for 6 boxcab electric-powered locomotives for use in the tunnel; they were delivered in 1916–1917. Both the locomotives and the electrification were very similar to those of the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway. Lining of the tunnel bore with concrete was completed by 1916 and the 2 parallel standard gauge tracks and 2400 V DC catenary were installed by September 1918. Progress was slowed by the First World War and CNoR's ongoing financial difficulties by the mid-1910s. The first train, with locomotive 601 leading, ran through the tunnel October 21, 1918. The event was little-noticed due to the still-ongoing war and a ban on large public gatherings due to the Spanish flu epidemic.
  On September 6, 1918, the insolvent CNoR was nationalized by the federal government when its board of directors was replaced by a government appointed board of management, implemented by the Department of Railways and Canals. At the same time, the newly appointed board at CNoR was directed to take over the operation of the government-owned Canadian Government Railways (CGR). On December 20, 1918, the Privy Council issued an order creating the Canadian National Railways (CNR) to operate CNoR, CGR and eventually other bankrupt private-sector railways. Ironically, the Grand Trunk became part of CNR in 1923, giving CNR better routes to Ottawa and Toronto and relegating the tunnel line to branch-line status. Nevertheless, it still remains an essential part of Montreal's regional transport system.
  CNR took over the Mount Royal Tunnel at the time of its completion, along with the virtually empty lands which CNoR's owners, Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann, had envisioned would become a signature real estate development. CNR developed this area sporadically from the 1930s to the 1960s, interrupted by the Great Depression and the Second World War.
  A new terminal, begun in 1931, opened as Central Station on July 14, 1943, resulting in the closure of the "temporary" CNoR-era Tunnel Terminal near the same location. Central Station consolidated CNR's passenger terminals in the city and also replaced Bonaventure Station which CNR had inherited from GTR.  In the late 1950s, the remainder of the CNoR lands acquired in downtown 
caption: Entry of the Mount Royal tunnel, 1918
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