Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion II

[officedweller]

Historical pic of the Dunsmuir Tunnel portal at Portal Park before the area was covered over.

Page 12 of the Transit Museum Society SkyTrain Gallery.


https://transitmuseumsociety.org/wp/photo-albums-skytrain/

On Page 9 is an east facing view.
You can see some footings for the future Waterfront Centre complex already set between the tracks to avoid future disruption.


https://transitmuseumsociety.org/wp/photo-albums-skytrain/

On Page 2 is this pic showing the other end of the waterfront area with the Canada Gate to Expo 86's Canada Pavilion at Canada Place.
Note the footings between the tracks.
The current Howe St. entrance to Waterfront Station was within Expo grounds and fed people from the main Expo 86 site via SkyTrain. The platform at Waterfront was divided longitudinally (lengthwise) with a chain link fence with one side having revenue service (access from the CP Station) and the other side having Expo 86 shuttle service (access from the Expo Howe St. entrance) from the Stadium Station 3rd platform.

https://transitmuseumsociety.org/wp/photo-albums-skytrain/

[nname]

TransLink propose new weekend-only summer routes to parks for summer 2026 or 2027

https://translinklistens.ca/new-routes-to-parks

- Extend 181 to Belcarra
- New route to Campbell Valley
- New route to Golden Ears
- New route to Centennial Beach (2027)

[twoNeurons]

A new History of BC Video!
• Video Link

[bluefox]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Historical pic of the Dunsmuir Tunnel portal at Portal Park before the area was covered over.
-snip-

That east facing view especially makes me wonder... in an alternate universe where the train tracks were retained and instead capped and built over, possibly including a station, what would our commuter rail look like today?

Assuming there was political will and railway companies were cooperative, could we have had something to truly rival GO on the west coast?

[Migrant_Coconut]

I'm guessing very little change - IIRC the bottleneck isn't Waterfront, it's everything between it and Coquitlam.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I'm guessing very little change - IIRC the bottleneck isn't Waterfront, it's everything between it and Coquitlam.

It's double tracked (or more) that entire length, it's only a bottleneck because CPKC uses dated signaling tech, as well as the insistance on "precision railroading", making trains longer, slower, with less crews to keep things moving. Meaning large trains will block the tracks as they're processed car by car in the port, moving slower along the way, with delays because less crews means delays.

Electrify the railroad, upgrade the signaling tech, and abandon precision railroading as a business practice, and you won't have a bottleneck here with current rail traffic volumes. At which point providing all day WCE could actually happen, but doing these simple things that countries with a fraction of our wealth can somehow manage is never going to happen because we refuse to effectively legislate our railroads.

[cganuelas1995]

Any word if the 31 is gonna get regular sized buses?

[Vantage]

Originally Posted by mcj

It's double tracked (or more) that entire length, it's only a bottleneck because CPKC uses dated signaling tech, as well as the insistance on "precision railroading", making trains longer, slower, with less crews to keep things moving. Meaning large trains will block the tracks as they're processed car by car in the port, moving slower along the way, with delays because less crews means delays.

Electrify the railroad, upgrade the signaling tech, and abandon precision railroading as a business practice, and you won't have a bottleneck here with current rail traffic volumes. At which point providing all day WCE could actually happen, but doing these simple things that countries with a fraction of our wealth can somehow manage is never going to happen because we refuse to effectively legislate our railroads.

What would compel a private company to do all those things that cost them a lot more money and also make the movement of freight on their own rail less efficient?

[Glow Fun City]

Originally Posted by Vantage

What would compel a private company to do those all things that cost them a lot more money and also make the movement of freight on their own rail less efficient?

A government law forcing them to do so.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Given that Ottawa is afraid of corporations in general, and the railways and their federal-level rights are older than some of the western provinces (i.e. very, very entrenched), I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[madog222]

The 2026 Buisness Plan includes replacement of the 2001 Mark 2 Skytrain fleet and an order for 73 60' trolleys.

For the Skytrain order, it says replacement of 60 cars but given the value at $433 million there's no way the order is for only 60 cars, this should work out to be for 100 cars.

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...c-board-meeting-package---2025-12-03.pdf

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by madog222

The 2026 Buisness Plan includes replacement of the 2001 Mark 2 Skytrain fleet and an order for 73 60' trolleys.

For the Skytrain order, it says replacement of 60 cars but given the value at $433 million there's no way the order is for only 60 cars, this should work out to be for 100 cars.

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...c-board-meeting-package---2025-12-03.pdf

There are only 60 Mark II cars to replace?

It was $356 million in 2024?

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...tation/2024-investment-plan-approved.pdf

And $362 million in 2025?

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...30-joint-board-and-mc-meeting-agenda.pdf

The meeting package says 6 MK 1 cars will be retired every month in 2026.

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...c-board-meeting-package---2025-12-03.pdf

[madog222]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

There are only 60 Mark II cars to replace?

Yes, there’s 60 of the series 1100-1200 circa 2001 Mark II cars.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by madog222

The 2026 Buisness Plan includes replacement of the 2001 Mark 2 Skytrain fleet and an order for 73 60' trolleys.

For the Skytrain order, it says replacement of 60 cars but given the value at $433 million there's no way the order is for only 60 cars, this should work out to be for 100 cars.

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...c-board-meeting-package---2025-12-03.pdf

Good to see a replacement of the Mark II fleet still progressing. Was hoping to see at least a mention of the SFU Gondola, but nothing in there about it at all sadly. I'm guessing we will not see construction start in 2027 after all.

[Mac Write]

They are ordering 110 Mark V cars/22 trains. Which will give us a total of 69 Mark V trains by the end of 2031.

I don't think they are replacing the 48/12 trains Mark II 1300/1400 2009 trains.

This order will actually reduce the fleet by 1 train based on replacing the 2-car's with 5-car trains. As there are 30 2-car train Mark II's.

I prefer the Mark II's from comfortable seating to wheelchair spaces that don't have a knob that pulls my controller cable out of its socket (I am left handed). I have video of this actually happening and been stranded with a ripped cable.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by mcj

Was hoping to see at least a mention of the SFU Gondola, but nothing in there about it at all sadly. I'm guessing we will not see construction start in 2027 after all.

They’re applying for senior government funding in 2026, I wasn’t expecting to see in in the year’s budget.

[Vantage]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Given that Ottawa is afraid of corporations in general, and the railways and their federal-level rights are older than some of the western provinces (i.e. very, very entrenched), I wouldn't get my hopes up.

The thought of the railroads giving up PSR is laughable.

[gaviscon]

Are we all feeling a little jealous watching Finch West LRT open?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

Are we all feeling a little jealous watching Finch West LRT open?

I was jealous watching the REM open, but the Finch LRT makes me glad we dodged the Surrey LRT bullet. ~50 mins to travel ~10km, no thank you, most of our buses do better than that.

[gaviscon]

Would a Hastings - Brentwood - Metrotown Skytrain make other cities feel jealous?