Montreal Metro doors accidentally open between stops on Green line

Passengers using the Montreal Metro were shocked Monday morning to see the doors open unexpectedly on the wrong side of the car as the train zipped between Papineau and Frontenac stations.

Four doors in a car on the Green line opened as the train left Papineau, and they kept opening and closing while it zoomed along the track.

Passenger Réal Gagné filmed the scene as the train headed east towards Frontenac station.

"With the other passengers, we were absolutely flabbergasted," Gagné said. "The doors opened completely, closed, opened, closed, up until Frontenac station."

Montreal's public transit agency, the STM, acknowledges that the car's doors opened "partially" while the train was in motion and "about to arrive at Frontenac station," spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay told Radio-Canada.

Gagné disagrees with that version of events. He said the doors were opening and closing fully, all the way from one station to the next.

The emergency system didn't function properly, Tremblay said.

The conductor communicated with passengers once the train arrived at Frontenac station and asked them not to obstruct the doors, without knowing that they were open on the wrong side.

He then went to the car and closed them manually.

A team was sent by the STM to evacuate the train, and the train was sent to a garage for inspection.

The incident happened on a MR-73 train, released in 1973. There are 423 in circulation.

She said once the cause of the malfunction is found, the STM will evaluate whether it's possible the same thing could happen on other trains, in which case it will perform further checks and maintenance.

- Translated from a text by Radio-Canada's Marie-Claude Morin