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VANCOUVER
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| British Columbia . Canada |

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System
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The Vancouver Metro, called SkyTrain, is an automated metro system, similar to the VAL system of Lille and Toulouse. As of August 2009, it actually comprises two systems, incompatible with each other, the older Expo/Millennium Line and the brand new Canada Line:
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| Expo Line | Millennium Line | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Expo & Millennium Lines start in downtown Vancouver and serve the southeastern neighborhoods of the metropolitan area. Expo & Millennium Lines run mainly on an elevated structure with trains every 2-5 minutes.
Total length of the first line, now referred to as the Expo Line, is 28.6 km (only 1.3 km in a former railway tunnel in downtown Vancouver - Burrard and Granville; and Columbia station is covered), total travelling time is 39 minutes.
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| Canada Line | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Apart from SkyTrain there is the West Coast Express, which only operates into Vancouver in the mornings and from Vancouver in the evenings (5 trains each direction).
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History
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03
Jan 1986: Waterfront - New Westminster (21.4 km) 17 Aug 2009: Waterfront - YVR-Airport/Richmond-Brighouse (Canada Line - 19.5 km)
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Projects |
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From the existing Lougheed station, a Skytrain line (or similar technology) is planned to Coquitlam Centre. Other options like light rail were finally ruled out in Feb. 2008. The 11 km Coquitlam route was named the 'Evergreen Line' in Dec. 2005. On 18 April 2008, TransLink and the BC Ministry of Transportation announced that the Evergreen Line will follow the 'northwest route' from Lougheed Station, elevated on North Road to Clarke Road, head into a tunnel from Clarke Road north of Como Lake Avenue, emerging at the bottom of the Clarke Road hill to run on an at-grade alignment adjacent to the Canadian Pacific railway line. It willl then continue to the Ioco Road overpass where it will turn eastward, change back to an elevated guideway northward along the Lougheed Highway to Pinetree Way, and finally turn northward to a terminus just north of Douglas College in Coquitlam. View map with Evergreen Line! Other plans include a 12 km line from Broadway Station to University of British Columbia by 2020, as well as double capacity on the existing Expo Line, including major improvements to stations starting in 2009 and a 6 km extension in Surrey by 2020. |
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Photos
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Books
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Practical
Info
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The Canada Line operates every 4-6 minute during daytime service, with trains serving the two southern branches alternately. Service is from 5:00 - 1:15 Mon - Fri, 6:00 - 1:15 on Saturdays and 7:00 - 0:15 on Sundays. - FARES (2009) The metropolitan area is divided into 3 fare zones and the Skytrain runs through all of them (Zone 1: Waterfront - Joyce / Rupert / Marine Drive; Zone 2: Patterson / Gilmore - Columbia, and Bridgeport - YVR Airport / Richmond; Zone 3: Scott Road - King George)
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Links
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Canada Line (Construction Project) Coast Mountain Bus Company (Official Page) Skytrain at Wikipedia Canada Line at Wikipedia NYC-Subway-Resources - Vancouver Page Great Vancouver Rail Map from JohoMaps Vancouver - Future Network (Matt Buchanan)
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Photos
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Pictures courtesy of Matthew Huston (1-5) & Frank Rösel (6-7) |
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2007 © Robert Schwandl (UrbanRail.Net)