Lionel-Groulx is a Montreal Metro station in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and is a transfer station between the Green Line and Orange Line, with cross-platform interchange available. It is located in the Saint-Henri area, along Atwater Avenue on that area's eastern border with Little Burgundy. If transfers between lines are included, the station is one of the busiest on the Metro. It first opened in 1978.

History

The station opened on September 3, 1978 as part of the extension of the Green Line to Angrignon, but service was on the Green Line only. Though the Orange Line platforms were built at the same time, they did not enter service until the extension to Place-Saint-Henri was opened on April 28, 1980. The station was the first transfer station after Berri–UQAM opened in the original network.

In 2009, it became the first existing station, after elevators were added, to be retrofitted to be fully wheelchair-accessible. Berri-UQAM station had elevators added at the same time but only between the mezzanine and the Orange Line platforms. Representing the races of humanity growing from a common root, it was carved from the entire trunk of a walnut tree, it was originally located at Man and His World and was given to the Metro by the United Nations.

The station is equipped with the MétroVision information screens which displays news, commercials, and the time till the next train.

Station layout

{|table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=50 valign=top|G

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=100 valign=top|Street Level

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=500 valign=top|Exit / Entrance

|-

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=50 valign=top|B1

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=100 valign=top|Mezzanine

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=500 valign=top|Fare control, station agent

|-

|style="border-top:solid 1px gray;border-bottom:solid 1px gray;" width=50 rowspan=3 valign=top|B2

|style="border-bottom:solid 0px gray;border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=100|<span>Outer loop</span>

|style="border-bottom:solid 0px gray;border-top:solid 1px gray;" width=500| ← <span>Orange Line</span> toward Montmorency via Henri-Bourassa

|-

|style="border-top:solid 2px black;border-right:solid 2px black;border-left:solid 2px black;border-bottom:solid 2px black;text-align:center;" colspan=2|<small>Island platform, doors will open on the left</small>

|-

|style="border-bottom:solid 1px gray;"|<span>Northbound</span>

|style="border-bottom:solid 1px gray;"|<span style=color:white>→</span> <span>Green Line</span> toward →

|-

|style="border-top:solid 0px gray;border-bottom:solid 1px gray;" width=50 rowspan=3 valign=top|B3

|<span>Inner loop</span>

|<span style=color:white>→</span> <span>Orange Line</span> toward →

|-

|style="border-top:solid 2px black;border-right:solid 2px black;border-left:solid 2px black;border-bottom:solid 2px black;text-align:center;" colspan=2|<small>Island platform, doors will open on the right</small>

|-

|style="border-bottom:solid 1px gray;"|<span>Southbound</span>

|style="border-bottom:solid 1px gray;"|← <span>Green Line</span> toward

|}

Origin of the name

This station is named for rue Lionel-Groulx, which had its name changed to allow the station to commemorate Lionel Groulx. Groulx, one of the most influential of Quebec historians, founded the Franco-American History Institute in 1946 and edited the Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française from 1947 to 1967.

In November 1996, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada officially requested that the Executive Committee of the Montreal Urban Community (M.U.C.) recommend a name change to the station, due to anti-Semitic statements and positions made and maintained by Lionel Groulx.

Likewise, there has been a recent movement to rename the station in honour of Oscar Peterson. The movement was originally started as a virtual petition, but has recently been picked up by the media. The issue was politicized and fraught in controversy as global monuments and statues celebrating controversial historical icons were called in to question.

Connecting bus routes

{| align=center class="wikitable"

!style="background: #; font-size:100%; color:#FFFFFF;"colspan="4"|Société de transport de Montréal|

|-

! No.

! Route

! Connects to

! Service times / notes

|-

!

|Saint-Patrick

|

|Weekdays only

|-

!

|Bannantyne

|

|Daily

|-

!

|Norman

|

|Weekdays only

|-

!

|Bord-du-Lac

|

|Daily

|-

!

|Verdun / LaSalle

|

|Night service

|-

!

|Express Lionel-Groulx

|

|Daily

|-

!

|Express Provost

|

|Weekdays only

|-

!

|Express Victoria

|

|Daily

|-

!

|YUL Airport / Downtown

|

|Daily

Some runs start or end at this station

|-

|}

Nearby points of interest

  • Atwater Market
  • Église Saint-Irénée
  • Union United Church
  • Parc du Canal de Lachine
  • CÉDA (Comité d'éducation aux adultes)
  • Solin Hall (Off-Campus Residence of McGill University)

Film and television appearances

  • Scenes of the Bruce Willis-Richard Gere film The Jackal were shot in this station, redressed to stand in for the Metro Center station on the Washington Metro.
  • Scenes from the Marvel Comics film Punisher: War Zone were also shot in this station, as the entrance to the Punisher's lair.
  • Scenes from the movie Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks were also shot in this station.
  • The station entrance appears in many Just for Laughs: Gags pranks.

References

  • Lionel-Groulx Station &mdash; official web page
  • Lionel-Groulx metro station geo location
  • Montreal by Metro, metrodemontreal.com &mdash; Photos, information, and trivia
  • Metro Map
  • STM 2011 System Map