Montreal set to replace MR-73 metro cars with new ones from La Pocatière, north of Quebec City

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced the city will replace its older metro cars with new ones being manufactured in La Pocatière, a town just over an hour north of Quebec City.

At a press conference Wednesday, Plante was joined by leaders of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and said the are about 10 years left of the lifespan of the current MR-73 trains.

The trains, which are 50 years old, will become the oldest in the world to transport passengers within the span of 10 years, Plante said. She added that the new Quebec-made metro cars are expected to increase passenger capacity by 37 per cent.

This announcement comes a day after Quebec Premier François Legault said that the province must diversify its economy to make it less dependent on the U.S. in light of Trump’s tariff plans, adding that a “sword of Damocles” hangs above Quebec’s economy.

“I just wanted to raise my hand and say ‘hey, Mr. Legault, we’re ready,'” Plante said. “This is something we can start right away (…) because usually it will take almost 10 years before we see those new trains in the subway.”

Currently, all STM trains are manufactured by Alstom, a company that would have been affected by the now-postponed Trump tariffs.

The shift to Quebec-made production is also intended to continue well into the future, the mayor added, even in the possibility of an international manufacturer out-bidding train manufacturers in La Pocatière.

“I think we have all the elements to make sure that or at least to push as much as possible that those trains will continue to be done in La Pocatière (…) where we have families of Quebecers counting on those great jobs,” Plante said.