Skytrain is celebrating 25 years of transportation today, carrying over 1.2 billion riders served since the service launched in 1986.
Skytrain was actually a legacy project of Expo 86 and it was built to showcase the fair’s theme of “Transportation and Communication: World in Motion – World in Touch.”
Originally, the Expo line route ran from Waterfront Station to New Westminster Station, until an extension to Scott Road in Surrey was opened in 1987. In 1994, the Gateway, Surrey Central and King George stations were added, extending the line to its current route into Surrey.
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In 2002, the Millennium Line opened, running from VCC-Clark, through North Burnaby and eastern parts of New Westminster. The Canada Line, which runs from Waterfront to Richmond, with a spur line to YVR, opened in 2009. Trains on Canada Line are incompatible with the Expo and Millennium Lines, but it is still considered part of the Skytrain system.
Every day, Skytrain transports up to 310,000 passengers. Over $4 billion has been poured into the system from various levels of government and Translink, and further $2 billion in improvements is planned, including new fare gates and cards and improving accessibility.
Watch “On Track,” an early Skytrain project film from 1983, here.
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