Lionel-Groulx station 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 and is a transfer station between the Green Line and Orange Line. It is located in the Saint-Henri area. The station served 3.9 million passengers in 2006, excluding transfers. If they were included, it would be ranked among the top four busiest in the network with about 15 million passengers. The station opened on September 3, 1978 as part of the extension of the Green Line to Angrignon, with service 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. It was therefore the first transfer station to open after Berri-UQAM, in the original network. In 2009 it became the first existing station to be retrofitted to be fully wheelchair-accessible through the addition of elevators. Berri-UQAM station had elevators added at the same time, but only between the mezzanine and Orange Line platforms. Three elevators connect the entrance to the mezzanine, the mezzanine to the upper platform, and the upper platform to the lower platform, respectively.
Architecture and art
The station, built in open cut, features stacked platforms with central platforms between the lines; the Orange Line is to the south and the Green Line to the north. The platforms are arranged in an anti-directional cross-platform interchange, with the two inbound lines on the upper level, and the two outbound lines on the lower level. This allows the majority of passengers to transfer by simply walking across the platform, without having to go up or down stairs. The station's mezzanine, suspended on beams, is located above the upper platform, and gives access to the single entrance. The station was designed by Yves Roy. It contains two artworks: a pair of stainless steelmural sculptures by the architect over the mezzanine, and in the mezzanine itself, a sculpture called The Tree of Life by Italian artist Joseph Rifesser. 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
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 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.
