{"id":4123,"date":"2009-10-10T12:20:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T17:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=4123"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:20:11","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:20:11","slug":"metro-melody-dou-dou-dou-doomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/10\/10\/metro-melody-dou-dou-dou-doomed\/","title":{"rendered":"Metro melody dou-dou-dou doomed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hacheur<\/p>\n

What are your favourite sounds of Montreal? Mine is the lovely chord that the metro trains make when they start up \u2013 you know, the one featured in the campy 70\u2019s metro ad \u201cIl fait beau dans le metro<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a friend with perfect-pitch, the notes are F-Bflat-F, a Bb5 chord. He suggests Beethoven\u2019s 4th or Elton John\u2019s Can you Feel the Love Tonight<\/em> as musical matches for your metro-riding enjoyment.<\/p>\n

The STM explains<\/a> in more technical detail than I can grasp that the dou-dou-dou<\/em> sound is a by-product of the 1970s vintage current-chopper. The three audible frequencies are caused by the incremental increase of current to the motor. Since the whole system was custom-engineered for MR-73 metro cars, Montreal\u2019s subway system is unique in running to the tune of Bb5.<\/p>\n

But the dou-dou-dou<\/em> is, in the long run, doomed, as the 35-year-old trains are to be replaced with new, more hushed technology. In September, the STM negotiated<\/span> was in the process of negotiating an order for 765 new metro cars<\/a>, which will<\/span> would be manufactured in Quebec by Bombardier and Alstom over the next 10-12 years.<\/p>\n

The 340 MR-63s cars, which have been rolling since 1966 on the green line will be replaced first. If all goes according to plans (but does it ever?) the melodious ’73s will be replaced by 2021. That means we wtill have lots of time to appreciate this little idiosyncrasy before “Il fait beau dans le m\u00e9tro” has to go acapella.<\/p>\n

Image: The current-chopper is situated underneath the metro’s motor cars. Each train has 9 cars, two of which are motor cars. Image from Info STM: Le hacheur de courant<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Cross-posted from Indyish.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are your favourite sounds of Montreal? Mine is the lovely chord that the metro trains make when they start up \u2013 you know, the one featured in the campy 70\u2019s metro ad \u201cIl fait beau dans le metro.\u201d According to a friend with perfect-pitch, the notes are F-Bflat-F, a Bb5 chord. He suggests Beethoven\u2019sContinue reading “Metro melody dou-dou-dou doomed”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7832,33],"tags":[588,1668,4325,1493,4326,125,105,292],"class_list":["post-4123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-transit","tag-alstom","tag-bombardier","tag-by-product","tag-elton-john","tag-hushed-technology","tag-montreal","tag-music-musique","tag-quebec"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMetro melody dou-dou-dou doomed - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/10\/10\/metro-melody-dou-dou-dou-doomed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metro melody dou-dou-dou doomed - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are your favourite sounds of Montreal? Mine is the lovely chord that the metro trains make when they start up \u2013 you know, the one featured in the campy 70\u2019s metro ad \u201cIl fait beau dans le metro.\u201d According to a friend with perfect-pitch, the notes are F-Bflat-F, a Bb5 chord. 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