Quote:
BC government announces $1.47-billion SkyTrain upgrade with 200 new cars
Kenneth Chan May 23, 2019 2:17 pm
Provincial and federal government funding for the acquisition of 200 new and additional replacement cars for SkyTrain’s Expo Line and Millennium Line, and associated train infrastructure upgrades to handle the new fleet, was formalized today.
In a release, the provincial government says this next round of SkyTrain car orders and upgrades will cost $1.47 billion. This is also the largest and most expensive order of new cars in TransLink’s history.
No manufacturer has been identified, as this will be determined by a forthcoming procurement process led by the public transit authority beginning later this year.
This is not to be confused with the 56 new Mark III cars previously ordered from Bombardier and scheduled for a full delivery by the end of 2019.
The new funding will also go towards a new additional train maintenance and storage yard, upgrades to the existing Edmonds train operations and maintenance centre, and train control and operating systems, including a new operations and control centre for the entire SkyTrain network.
The location of the new additional storage facility has not been identified at this early stage of planning, but a site along the Expo Line’s future Fraser Highway extension has previously been stated as a possibility in early planning documents for that project.
The provincial government is contributing $579 million, the federal government is allocating $493 million, and TransLink is covering the remainder of $398 million. This investment is a part of Phase Two of the Mayors’ Council’s 10-year transit expansion and improvement plan.
[...]
|
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-skytrain-car-order-funding-may-2019
It's tremendously gratifying to see this generational investment in transit in Metro Vancouver roll out step by step. After 16 lost years for the region when the provincial government, on one hand, wisely invested in major capital projects (the Canada and Evergreen Lines), while on the other hand, counter-intuitively, took extraordinary steps to stymie the concomitant investment
(most of which they originally proposed!) in the less sexy workhorse infrastructure of the system (buses, SeaBuses, SkyTrain stations, etc.) that are required to unlock the full potential of investment in the SkyTrain network, support rapid and dispersed population growth, and shift travel away from single occupant vehicles.
This dark time culminated in the terribly divisive and wasteful transit funding referendum and elevation by the BC Liberal-friendly media of mendacious polemicists like Jason Bateman
(may he run out of gas and get a flat) who poisoned the debate and helped set back the region by years. Therefore, as one can hopefully imagine, it's an indescribably welcome change to see cooperation between the Province and region and agreement to ensure that the dollars flow and are being intelligently spent.
The regional impact of this investment and planning is already being felt. In Burnaby, at the Gilmore SkyTrain Station on the Millennium Line, a 37-storey,
~700,000 sqft office tower was just proposed as part of a 4,000 home, 2.7M sqft Gilmore Station redevelopment at that station. I am certain that a project of that magnitude would not be proceeding as-proposed were the SkyTrain Millennium Line's Broadway Extension not approved, funded, and proceeding apace.
Remarkably, as significant as this project is, it's still a drop in the bucket of the development occurring throughout the region at and around SkyTrain stations.
As for complimentary infrastructure, the Burnaby Mountain Gondola project that will connect the Production Way-University Skytrain station with Simon Fraser University atop Burnaby Mountain just moved closer to reality when
Burnaby City Council unanimously approved the project (subject to Translink funding in Phase 3 of the Mayors Council Transit Plan).
Prev
Linear Mode
