1.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
2.
Quebec
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Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada and the only one to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Quebec is Canadas largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division and it also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canadas second-most populous province, after Ontario, most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. Approximately half of Quebec residents live in the Greater Montreal Area, the Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples. Even in central Quebec at comparatively southerly latitudes winters are severe in inland areas, Quebec independence debates have played a large role in the politics of the province. Parti Québécois governments held referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995, in 2006, the House of Commons of Canada passed a symbolic motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada. These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become an economically influential province within Canada, early variations in the spelling of the name included Québecq and Kébec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the seat for the French colony of New France. The province is sometimes referred to as La belle province, the Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years War. The proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, the Treaty of Versailles ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, with each being granted an elected legislative assembly, in 1840, these become Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867, each became one of the first four provinces. In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the aboriginal peoples. This was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec. In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Located in the part of Canada, and part of Central Canada. Its topography is very different from one region to another due to the composition of the ground, the climate. The Saint Lawrence Lowland and the Canadian Shield are the two main regions, and are radically different
3.
Overhead line
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An overhead line or overhead wire is used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses, or trains. Overhead line is designed on the principle of one or more overhead wires situated over rail tracks, the feeder stations are usually fed from a high-voltage electrical grid. Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a device such as a pantograph and it presses against the underside of the lowest overhead wire, the contact wire. Current collectors are electrically conductive and allow current to flow through to the train or tram, non-electric locomotives may pass along these tracks without affecting the overhead line, although there may be difficulties with overhead clearance. Alternative electrical power transmission schemes for trains include third rail, ground-level power supply, batteries and this article does not cover regenerative braking, where the traction motors act as generators to retard movement and return power to the overhead. To achieve good high-speed current collection, it is necessary to keep the wire geometry within defined limits. This is usually achieved by supporting the wire from a second wire known as the messenger wire or catenary. This wire approximates the path of a wire strung between two points, a catenary curve, thus the use of catenary to describe this wire or sometimes the whole system. This wire is attached to the wire at regular intervals by vertical wires known as droppers or drop wires. It is supported regularly at structures, by a pulley, link, the whole system is then subjected to a mechanical tension. As the contact wire makes contact with the pantograph, the insert on top of the pantograph is worn down. The straight wire between supports will cause the wire to cross over the whole surface of the pantograph as the train travels around the curve, causing uniform wear. On straight track, the wire is zigzagged slightly to the left. The movement of the wire across the head of the pantograph is called the sweep. The zigzagging of the line is not required for trolley poles. Depot areas tend to have only a wire and are known as simple equipment or trolley wire. When overhead line systems were first conceived, good current collection was only at low speeds. Compound equipment - uses a second wire, known as the auxiliary
4.
Montreal Central Station
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Central Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nearly 11 million rail passengers use the station every year, the main concourse occupies almost the entire block bounded by rue de La Gauchetière, Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, René Lévesque Boulevard and Mansfield Street. Its street address and principal vehicular access are on de La Gauchetière, the station is adorned with art deco bas-relief friezes on its interior and exterior. The station building and associated properties are owned by Cominar REIT as of January 2012, homburg Invest Inc. was the previous owner, since November 30,2007. Prior to that, from the inception in 1943, it had been owned by Canadian National Railway. Inter-city trains at Central Station are operated by Via Rail and Amtrak, the station is also connected to the Montreal Metro subway system. Central Station is the second-busiest Via Rail station in Canada, after Toronto Union Station and its Via station code is MTRL, its Amtrak code is MTR, and its IATA code is YMY. Central Station opened in 1943, after years of construction. It stands on the site occupied by the terminus of the Canadian Northern Railways Tunnel Terminal which had originally opened in 1918. The merger left CNR with a somewhat viable patchwork of different networks, CNR endured a highly uncomfortable position in Montreal due to the scattering of its terminals. At the end of the 1920s, the newly formed Canadian National Railways struggled with disparate Montreal terminals, what made matters worse was that the various stations were only connected to each other via long detours. The solution chosen was to take advantage of the Mount Royal Tunnel to bring trains from the north, trains from the south and west gained access by a new elevated viaduct. Interurban electric trains, however, remained at McGill Street Terminal until the service was abandoned in 1956, the new station plan allowed for the development of air-rights, similar to Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station, both in New York City. The new Central Station would be situated in the bounded by De la Gauchetière Street to the south, Mansfield Street to the west, Cathcart Street to the north. Central Station was designed by John Schofield, architect-in-chief of CNR, construction started in 1926, but was halted in 1930 as a result of the Great Depression. Construction resumed in 1939, the economy having improved, the new station finally opened on July 14,1943, as the first of a series of large-scale urban redevelopment projects undertaken by CNR and the federal government in Downtown Montreal. But the Central Station that came out was a more modest central station with 20 tracks, Central Station was an important passenger station for CN trains from 1943 until the creation of Via Rail in 1978. Following Vias full absorption of CPs passenger trains in 1978, intercity rail traffic from Windsor Station was slowly redirected to Central Station, the final Via trains switched from Windsor Station to Central Station were the Quebec City trains that operated by way of Trois-Rivières
5.
Commuter rail in North America
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It does not include rapid transit or light rail service. Many, but not all, newer commuter railways offer service during peak times only, for example, the West Coast Express commuter rail line runs trains only into Downtown Vancouver during the morning rush hour, and out to the suburbs during the evening rush hour. Other systems avoid the problem entirely by using multiple units. GO Transit in Toronto operates mainly during rush hours on most lines, but offers all-day service seven days a week along its busiest corridor, all of GOs train routes radiate from Toronto Union Station downtown. Future plans for all-day, bidirectional service on all lines are in the works under Metrolinxs The Big Move plan, the Utah Transit Authority operates the FrontRunner, running on thirty-minute headways during weekday rush hours and sixty-minute headways at all other times on weekdays and Saturdays. Service runs until midnight on weeknights, and until just after 2 a. m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The FrontRunner is bidirectional during the entirety of its operating hours, most older, established commuter rail services operate seven days a week, with service from early morning to just after midnight. The Long Island Rail Road is the only 24/7 commuter railroad in North America, the Metro-North Railroad, also serving the New York City Metropolitan Area, runs at all times except the very early morning hours. On these systems, patrons use the trains not just to get to and from work or school, but also for attending sporting events, concerts, theatre, some also provide service to popular weekend getaway spots and recreation areas. Most commuter rail services in North America are operated by government entities or quasi-governmental organizations, almost all share tracks or rights-of-way used by longer-distance passenger services, freight trains, or other commuter services. The 600-mile-long electrified Northeast Corridor in the United States is shared by trains and Amtraks Acela Express, regional. Commuter rail operators often sell reduced-price multiple-trip tickets, charge specific station-to-station fares, Commuter trains typically connect to metro or bus services at their destination and along their route. This is different from the European use of rail, which generally refers to services midway between commuter rail and intercity rail that are not primarily commuter-oriented. The commuter railroads serving the Chicago area are Metra and the South Shore Line, another notable commuter railroad system is Bostons MBTA Commuter Rail, the fifth or sixth busiest in the U. S. with a daily weekday ridership of 130,600 as of Q42011. It serves the Greater Boston metropolitan area, and extends as far south as Wickford, there are only three commuter rail agencies in Canada, GO Transit in Toronto, Agence métropolitaine de transport in Montreal, and West Coast Express in Vancouver. The two busiest rail stations in Canada are Union Station in Toronto and Central Station in Montreal, Commuter rail networks outside of densely populated urban areas like the Washington D. C. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Montreal, since the late 1990s, commuter rail networks have been inaugurated in Dallas, San Diego, Minneapolis, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Orlando, and Albuquerque, among other cities. Several more commuter rail projects have been proposed and are in the planning stages, Commuter trains are either powered by diesel-electric or electric locomotives, or else use self-propelled cars
6.
Level crossing
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A level crossing, or grade crossing, is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road or path at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using a bridge or tunnel. The term also applies when a rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion. Other names include railway crossing, road through railroad, railroad crossing, early level crossings had a flagman in a nearby booth who would, on the approach of a train, wave a red flag or lantern to stop all traffic and clear the tracks. Manual or electrical closable gates that barricaded the roadway were later introduced, intended to be a barrier against intrusion of any road traffic onto the railway. In the early days of the railways much road traffic was horsedrawn or included livestock, when opened to allow road users to cross the tracks, the gates were swung across the width of the railway, preventing any pedestrians or animals getting onto the tracks. The first US patent for such crossing gates was awarded on 27 August 1867, to J. Nason and J. F. Wilson, later, as motor vehicles appeared, this type of barrier became less effective, while the need for a barrier to livestock diminished dramatically. Many countries therefore replaced the fully gated crossings with weaker but more-visible barriers, Railroad trains have a much larger mass relative to their braking capability, and thus a far longer braking distance than road vehicles. In general, trains do not stop at level crossings but rely on vehicles, Level crossings constitute a significant safety concern internationally. On average, each year 400 people are killed in the European Union, collisions can occur with vehicles as well as pedestrians, pedestrian collisions are more likely to result in a fatality. Among pedestrians, young people, older people and males are considered to be high risk users, fewer collisions take place at level crossings with active warning systems. Modern radar sensor systems can detect if level crossings are free of obstructions as trains approach and these improve safety by not lowering crossing barriers that may trap vehicles or pedestrians on the tracks, while signalling trains to brake until the obstruction clears. At railway stations, a level crossing is sometimes provided to allow passengers to reach other platforms in the absence of an underpass or bridge. Level crossings in Thailand, and Malaysia are largely manually operated, a significant number of crossings are without barriers. But there are some that are used on the line between Port Klang - Westport. However, it seems like only the crossing near Port Klang Komuter Station has the barrier. Speed up campaigns have largely eliminated many crossings on heavily used main lines though some still do exist. Most at-grade crossings in China are for smaller industrial spur and access lines which may or may not have crossing gates, chinas level crossing barriers are the fastest in the world. Most of Hong Kongs railway network is either underground or on elevated viaducts, however, level crossings continue to exist on the MTR Light Rail network, and one such level crossing was the site of a level crossing accident in 1994
7.
Montreal Metro
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The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired, underground rapid transit system and the main form of public transport in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Metro, operated by the Montreal Transit Corporation, was inaugurated on October 14,1966, in 2013,356.1 million trips on the Metro were completed. According to the STM, the Metro system had transported over 7 billion passengers as of 2010, with the Metro, Montreal has built one of North Americas largest urban rapid transit schemes, attracting the second-highest ridership per capita behind New York City. The Montreal Metro was inspired by the Paris Métro, which is seen in the Metros station design. Urban transit began in Montreal in 1861 when a line of cars started to operate on Craig. Eventually, as the then Canadian metropolis grew, a network of streetcar lines provided service almost everywhere. But urban congestion started to take its toll on streetcar punctuality, in 1902, as European and American cities were inaugurating their first subway systems, the federal government created the Montreal Subway Company to promote the idea in Canada. Starting in 1910, many proposals were tabled but the Montreal Metro would prove to be an elusive goal, first, the Montreal Street Railway Company, the Montreal Central Terminal Company and the Montreal Underground and Elevated Railway Company undertook fruitless negotiations with the city. The Montreal Tramways Company was the first to receive the approval of the government in 1913. The reluctance of elected city officials to advance funds foiled this first attempt, the issue of a subway remained present in the newspapers but World War I and the following recession hitting Montreal prevented any execution. The gradual return of the financial health during the 1920s brought the MTC project back, World War II and the war effort in Montreal resurrected trams crowding. In 1944, the MTC proposed a network, one line running underneath Saint Catherine Street. By this point, construction was well underway on Canadas first subway line in Toronto under Yonge Street. Still, Montreal councillors remained cautious and no work was initiated, for some of them, including Jean Drapeau during its first municipal term, public transit was a thing of the past. In 1959, a company, the Société dexpansion métropolitaine, offered to build a rubber-tired metro but the Transportation Commission wanted its own network. This was the last missed opportunity, for the re-election of Jean Drapeau as mayor, in the early 1960s, the western world experienced an economic boom and Quebec underwent its Quiet Revolution. The 1961 plan reused several previous studies and planned three lines carved into the rock under the city centre to the most populated areas of the city. The main line, or number 1 was to pass between the two most important arteries, Sainte-Catherine and Sherbrooke streets, more or less under the De Maisonneuve Boulevard and it would extend between the English-speaking west at Atwater station and French-speaking east at Frontenac
8.
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
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Saint-Laurent is a borough of the city of Montreal, the largest in area of Montreals boroughs. Prior to its 2002 merger, it was a city, Saint-Laurent was founded as the Parish of Saint-Laurent in 1720. The City of Saint-Laurent or Ville Saint-Laurent was merged into the City of Montreal on January 1,2002, on June 20,2004, the demerger forces lost a referendum on the issue of recreating Saint-Laurent as a city. While 75% of the turnout voted to demerge, this only represented 28. 5% of the eligible voting population. Neighbourhoods within this borough include Bois-Franc, Saint-Laurent is one of Quebecs most ethnically mixed areas, with some 166 ethnicities reported to live there in relative harmony. Linguistic trend Saint-Laurent is the second-largest employment hub within the metropolitan region, Air Canada Centre, also known as La Rondelle, is Air Canadas headquarters, located on the grounds of Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and in Saint-Laurent. In 1990 the airline announced that it was moving its headquarters from Downtown Montreal to the airport to cut costs, in addition Air Transats headquarters and a regional office of Air Canada Jazz are in Saint-Laurent and on the grounds of Trudeau Airport. Before its dissolution Jetsgo was headquartered in Saint-Laurent, bombardier Aerospace has the Amphibious Aircraft Division in Saint-Laurent. Norgate Shopping Centre is the earliest shopping centre in Canada and it was built in Saint-Laurent in 1949, is still operational, and has been refurbished in the 2010s. From 1974 to 1979 General Motors Diesel Division buses were built in a plant in Saint Laurent, Saint-Laurent is divided into two districts, Norman-McLaren and Côte-de-Liesse. The Norman-McLaren district is named for Norman McLaren, a pioneer at the National Film Board of Canada. It is the riding of longtime MP and former federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, Dion has represented the riding since 1996. He survived the Orange Wave that eliminated many of his Liberal cohort in the election of 2011. Saint-Laurent has three stations and two police stations, one municipal court building, two libraries, the former City Hall. There are two indoor arenas, the municipal Raymond Bourque Arena, named after Raymond Bourque a former NHL player. There is also the commercial Bonaventures Arena which has rinks available for rent, the former Cartierville Airport is no more, having been turned into a residential subdivision called Bois-Franc. Part of Trudeau International Airport also lies within the territory of Saint-Laurent, Saint-Laurent contains two CÉGEPs within its limits, one English and one French. An art museum, the Saint-Laurent Museum of Art, is located on the campus of Cégep de Saint-Laurent, along with a bowling alley, the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys operates Francophone public schools
9.
Border
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Borders are geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as an internal administrative border, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are often open. Other borders are partially or fully controlled, and may be crossed only at designated border checkpoints. Mostly contentious, borders may even foster the setting up of buffer zones, a difference has also been established in academic scholarship between border and frontier, the latter denoting a state of mind rather than state boundaries. In the past, many borders were not clearly defined lines, instead there were often intervening areas often claimed, a special case in recent times was the neutral zones that were set up along parts of Saudi Arabias borders with Kuwait and Iraq. In modern times, marchlands have been replaced by clearly defined and demarcated borders, for the purposes of border control, airports and seaports are also classed as borders. Most countries have some form of control to regulate or limit the movement of people, animals. Some borders require presentation of legal paperwork like passports and visas, or other identity documents, moving goods across a border often requires the payment of excise tax, often collected by customs officials. Animals moving across borders may need to go into quarantine to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Most countries prohibit carrying illegal drugs or endangered animals across their borders, moving goods, animals, or people illegally across a border, without declaring them or seeking permission, or deliberately evading official inspection, constitutes smuggling. Controls on car liability insurance validity and other formalities may also take place, in places where smuggling, migration, and infiltration are a problem, many countries fortify borders with fences and barriers, and institute formal border control procedures. But some borders are merely signposted and this is common in countries within the European Schengen Area and on rural sections of the Canada–United States border. Borders may even be unmarked, typically in remote or forested regions. The frontiers were particularly porous for the movement of migrants. A border may have been, Agreed by the countries on both sides Imposed by the country on one side Imposed by third parties, e. g, in addition, a border may be a de facto military ceasefire line. Political borders are imposed on the world through human agency, political borders are often classified by whether or not they follow conspicuous physical features on the earth. Natural borders are geographical features that present natural obstacles to communication, existing political borders are often a formalization of these historical, natural obstacles. Some geographical features that often constitute natural borders are, Oceans, oceans create very costly natural borders, very few nation-states span more than one continent
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