New Vancouver Skytrain on test

In 2020 a CAD 723M contract was signed by TransLink with Bombardier for the delivery of 205 new Skytrain cars, to be formed into 41 five-car transits. 

 

On 22 August 2023 the first of these was unveiled at Alstom’s Kingston, Ontario, plant to begin testing prior to delivery to the British Columbia agency later this year. Alstom took over Bombardier in 2021. Existing Skytrain sets are four cars, so in readiness for the arrival of the new stock, a CAD 78M platform-lengthening programme is underway. The articulated design of the new Mark V sets permits open gangways between the cars. They will replace the 150 Mark I sets dating from Skytrain’s opening in 1985, and provide for the 5.7km (3.5-mile) Broadway extension of the Millennium line, due to open in 2026. Delivery of the new sets will run until 2027. 

 

Vancouver Skytrain is an automated light metro on a three-line 79.6km (49.5-mile) system with 53 stations carrying about 117M passengers/year. The original line was built to support Expo 86 and is on mostly elevated alignment.