The original station was named Lazard (likely for the Franco-American merchant bank
Lazard Frères & Co. which underwrote the construction of the
Mount Royal Tunnel on this rail line). In 1926, the station was renamed Val-Royal. After the modernization of the Deux-Montagnes Line, between 1993 and 1995, a new station named Bois-Franc was built; the original station was then demolished at the request of the
Canadian National Railway and with the permission of
Transport Canada on June 5, 1995. The old station site is now a parking lot on the east side of Boulevard Marcel-Laurin.
Name origin The name Bois-Franc () dates back to 1717, when the Sulpician order, seigneurs of the
Island of Montreal, created a concession or
côte in this area, which became known as Côte Saint-Louis or Côte du Bois-Franc.The name "Bois-Franc" referred to an extensive
maple forest in the area, remnants of which make up the
Bois-de-Liesse and
Bois-de-Saraguay nature parks. In keeping with the practice in other
côtes, the road serving the area took the name of the
côte, Chemin du Bois-Franc.
Cartierville branch and station A single-track electrified (2400 V DC) branch to
Cartierville, a relic of when the line terminated there in
Canadian Northern Railway days, left the line at (then) Val-Royal station. When the line was run by Canadian National, only one rush-hour trip was scheduled in each direction. It was abandoned in the early 1980s when
STM predecessor STCUM took over operations of the Deux-Montagnes line. The Cartierville station was located at the corner of
Gouin West and
Laurentian boulevards. The Cartierville Station was to have been the terminus of
Line 3 (Red) of the
Montreal Metro. == Proposed Metro extension ==