The emergency closure of three metro stations on the Montreal metro’s Blue line could last “a few days, even a few weeks,” public transit officials warned Friday.
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM), the city’s public transit authority, suspended service for the Fabre, Iberville and St-Michel stations late Thursday.
The STM says work that was already underway at the St-Michel station revealed “significant deterioration” of some main beams above a footbridge at the stop. For safety reasons, the STM shut the station.
“Given the location of the track devices needed to turn trains around, Fabre and Iberville stations must also be closed,” the transit authority said in a notice on its website.
Marie-Claude Léonard, CEO of the STM, said civil engineering teams are investigating and she hopes they will know more about what caused the damage.
“We’re going to want to better understand what it’s going to take to make it safe and be able to repair it,” Léonard told reporters Friday.
“We’re going to try to do it as soon as possible. But you have to understand that it’s going to take a few days, maybe a few weeks, so we’re not going to reopen tomorrow morning.”
The STM has a shuttle bus to transfer public users from the impacted stations to the Jean-Talon metro station. Metro staff will be at the closed stations in the coming days to help direct commuters.
— with files from The Canadian Press.