The beloved Stanley Park Train will be remaining at its station this Halloween as officials said it’s still under restoration work.
The Vancouver Park Board said this year’s Stanley Park Ghost Train has been cancelled — the fourth year in a row the spooky, Halloween-themed miniature train ride has been shelved.
The miniature train has been out of commission since the fall of 2022 due to “mechanical issues affecting the antique engines and passenger cars.”
It was cancelled in 2020 due to safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021 due to aggressive coyotes in the area.
The Vancouver Park Board said it remains “steadfast” in its commitment to revitalizing the train.
“This work involved a comprehensive assessment and a thorough analysis of the ride system. The vintage train equipment, some of which is more than 60 years old, requires specialized parts that are challenging to obtain,” park board staff said.
“At this time, all the necessary parts have been successfully acquired and teams are hard at work taking on additional repairs and testing to guarantee the train’s safe operation to get it back in service as soon as possible.”
Staff said they expect the train to be operational by November, and a more detailed timeline will be released in the “coming weeks.”
Back in November, Technical Safety BC outlined a number of issues with the miniature train line, including corrosion and damage to both the track and railcars, overgrown vegetation disrupting sight lines, and decaying infrastructure.