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Edmonton has a population of 750,000 in the city and 1 million in the metropolitan area and was the first North American city with less than a million inhabitants to build a light rail system, which runs underground in central areas, just like a European Premetro or Stadtbahn system.

Construction on a 7.2 km LRT line began in 1974 at 95 Street and 106 Avenue. The first segment between Belvedere and Central was inaugurated in April 1978, in time for Commonwealth Games. The line follows an CN right-of-way (National Railways) from Belvedere to Stadium, from where it continues in a new tunnel to Central station. In 1981 it was extended north to Clareview, and later in stages through the city centre: to Corona in 1983 and to Grandin in 1989. In 1992, the light rail trains reached the deepest station of the line, at 23 m below street level, at University of Alberta, after crossing the North Saskatchewan River on the Dudley B. Menzies LRT Bridge, which has a lower level for pedestrians and cyclists.

Since 1983, all stations have been built with full accessibility for the disabled, other stations are currently being upgraded. In the late 1990's Clareview and Belvedere stations were covered and their platforms lengthened to allow the use of 5-car trains. While the underground sections have full metro standards, there are level crossings along the surface sections.

22 April 1978 - Belvedere - Central (6.9 km)
26 April 1981 - Belvedere - Clareview (2.2 km)
June 1983 - Central - Corona (0.8 km)
Sept. 1989 - Corona - Grandin (0.8 km)
23 Aug 1992 - Grandin - University (1.6 km)
01 Jan 2006 - University - Health Sciences (0.8 km)
26 Apr 2009 - Health Sciences - South Campus (2.0 km)

Photos © Xuan Zhang

 Projects

A 10 km extension south from University has been under construction since Jan. 2003. With the first sections opened in 2006 and 2009, the extension will be fully operable in April 2010. All details about it can be found here.

A new line from Churchill in the city centre to NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) in the north of the city is under consideration.

Trains run 05:30 - 01:30 (Mon-Sat), 05:30-00:30 (Sun), every 6 minutes peak hours, every 10 minutes daytime, every 15 minutes evenings and Sundays, every 10 minutes on Saturdays.

- FARES (2009, in Canadian Dollars)

Cash fare - $2.50 (incl. 90 min. transfer)
Day Pass - $7.50 (for LRT and buses)
Book of 10 tickets - $21.00

www.TakeETS.com - Official Site

Edmonton Light Rail at Wikipedia

Some nice photographs at lightrail.com

Southern extension project

More photos by Jon Bell