Today I had the opportunity to ride the Canada Line as part of a tour that was organized by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC).
We started at 12:00 pm at Waterfront Station and we rode the train from Waterfront to the YVR-Airport station. Although the train stopped at a couple of stations, we did not have the opportunity to explore any of the stations other than the Waterfront station where we first boarded the train.
Once the train arrived at the airport, it just backed out and we were on our way back towards downtown.
One observation that I had was that the trains were really quiet and smooth (at least compared to the existing SkyTrain cars where you can't even listen to your personal music player without turning up the volume to maximum).
Another complaint that I had was that at Waterfront station, the Canada Line station is not directly connected to the existing SkyTrain station so that means to transfer between the two lines, you would have to walk across the old train station atrium and have to exit and enter the "Fare Paid Zones" two times. This could be a potential problem when faregates are finally installed.
Other than that, it is very exciting to see a brand new underground subway system being built to places that people actually want to go to.
As someone who has followed this project from the days of the "RAV Line" back in 2002-2003 when the project was killed and resurrected by politicians twice, I can't wait until it finally opens to the public on Labour Day this year.
