The STM says the metro interruptions on Monday were caused not by equipment failures, but rather, by a tunnel wanderer, and a cigarette butt.
The first one happened at the height of the morning rush hour, a few minutes before 8 a.m., when firefighters were called to the north-end Sauvé metro station on the orange line because staff detected some smoke coming from the tracks.
It turns out someone threw a smoldering cigarette onto the tracks, and the STM says at that point, its strict security protocol kicked in, forcing a shutdown between Montmorency and Beaubien stations for about a half an hour, and crowding much of the rest of the system with people for the rest of the rush hour.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the evening rush hour, just before 4 p.m., a 20-year-old man apparently stepped onto the tracks and into the tunnel between the Place St. Henri and Vendome stations — and that was enough to shut down service on the entire western part of the orange line, between Berri-UQAM and Cote Vertu, for a half hour.
The power was cut off to keep the man from being electrocuted. He was later arrested by police, though for the moment, the reason for the young man's sortie isn't known.
The STM points out that around half the time when metro service is interrupted for a half an hour or more, it's because of metro users, and not equipment breakdowns.
"We're very preoccupied by that," says the STM's Isabelle Tremblay, pointing out the transit agency is considering measures to help counter the problems — including regular ad campaigns that warn users about behaviors that can slow or halt metro service — things like blocking metro doors, or pulling emergency levers without valid reason.
She's also urging the public not to get hung up on the recent spate of transit shutdowns — including two major system-wide shutdowns last week caused by failures with the communication network.
"Today's a clean sheet," Tremblay says.