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In the early hours of the morning, when most Montrealers are asleep, below the city’s surface, métro system maintenance workers are in a race against time.

Between approximately 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., more than 200 workers are dispatched to about 130 sites, where they’ll carry out jobs ranging from minor welding to major station rebuilds. Since the work is loud and requires heavy machinery, almost all of it needs to be wrapped up by the time the first train rolls out at 5:30 a.m.

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“Each night, every minute counts if we’re going to finish on time,” said Marie-Claude Leonard, the executive director of the métro system for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).

The first portions of the 69-kilometre, 68-stop métro system, were inaugurated in 1966. The city’s transit authority has announced it would spend $1.6 billion to refurbish the aging network between 2020 and 2025, with funds divided between equipment upgrades, infrastructure repairs and new wheelchair-accessible elevators in 12 stations.