The Underground City
There have been a few mentions here and there about Montreal’s Underground City already on Metroblogging Montreal. But I’m truly thankful that it’s there.
There are plenty of other cities the world over that have a similar network of tunnels connecting buildings, malls, subway stations and the like. But only Montreal has bragging rights being that we have the largest underground network on the planet with 32 kilometers of tunnels covering over 41 city blocks (more stats and facts over at wikipedia).
Where else can I walk a mere few minutes to the Metro (where it’s hot as Hell, but that’s an entirely separate blog post), but then be a short ride away from work and inside all day and not have to worry about the elements that await outside? Though don’t get me wrong, I still manage to spend some time outside to get some air.
Whether we’re in the summertime where we have hyper humid days like we’re currently experiencing or sub-zero temperatures smack-dab in the middle of January, we can get a lot done and go to a lot of places in The Underground.
On a sidenote: Why are a lot of Metro stations so hot? Especially Guy Concordia, it’s horrible.
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Metro stations are hot - even in the wintertime - because all those lights and metro engines and people generate an enormus amount of heat, and there’s just too much of it to vent out. The stations, tunnels and cars are unheated, even in the winter; the system generates enough heat on its own to keep everyone toasty even at 30 below.
And forget about air-conditioning it, that would cost an absolute fortune.
Hmm… I just knew the answer would be blatantly obvious! ;)
But why are some hotter than others? I’m guessing that since each station was designed by a different designer (right?), some of them kept proper ventilation in mind?
Metro tunnels are also hot beacuse the crust of the earth that lies beneath Montréal is quite thin and it heats up from the volcanic activity belowt.
Because of this hot rock it’s very easy to get geothermic installation in Montréal. Just drill a hole in the rock, inject water and it will heat up enough to warm your home. Just because the price of electricity is so low it takes quite a while to recoup the costs of the installation.
the tires contribute a lot to the heat.
The Green line is hotter than the other lines in general. I forget the reasons, but I remember reading that once.
I never understand the complaints about the metro (minus the Green line) being hot. As someone who takes it everyday to work, I’m not sweating like a pig like I do at home with no AC. And it’s better than being stuck on the disgusting 80.