Canada Line Opening

On Monday, August 17, 2009, the Canada Line rapid transit project finally opened to the public after 4 years of construction and 3 months ahead of schedule.

I don't know why they choose to have the grand opening on a Monday (these kinds of grand infrastructure projects are usually open to the public on the weekends...) but because I had work, I unfortunately could not ride the train on the opening day. I tried going after work but the lines were just too crazy.

Instead after dinner I went biking down Cambie St. and across the Canada Line bridge to Richmond. While biking I passed by many stations and they were all packed with people. I had never seen Cambie St. so alive with pedestrians before!

Below are pictures of the craziness that ensued on opening day when an estimated 100,000 people rode the train from 1 pm to 9 pm.

(Note: The pictures are not mine and are from various sources)

Our illustrious leader, the one who knows best, Premier Gordon Campbell opening the system at the YVR-Airport station.

Canada Line Technical Tour

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.

Canada Line Operations & Maintenance Centre Tour

Last week on May 19, 2009 I had the opportunity to visit the Canada Line (new automated rapid transit system linking Vancouver, Richmond and the airport) operations and maintenance centre.

The system has been under construction since 2005 and is scheduled to open on Labour Day (first Monday in September) Sept. 7, 2009.

The trains are all made in Korea by a subsidiary of Hyundai, the Rotem company and is not compatible with the current SkyTrain system in Vancouver. The two systems do not interconnect.

For more information please see the Canada Line Wikipedia page.

Inside one of the three maintenance bays.