Canada Line
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 A train approaches Bridgeport station
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| Route length: | 19.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Canada Line is a metro -line in Canadian metropolitan area Metro Vancouver in the province of British Columbia . It connects Vancouver with the southern neighboring city of Richmond and with the Vancouver International Airport . Automatic trains are used, but in contrast to the Expo Line and the Millennium Line of the SkyTrain , these do not have linear motors , but rather use more conventional technology. The 19.2 km long line with 16 stations was opened on August 17, 2009, in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics .
route
The Canada Line begins underground in downtown Vancouver at Waterfront Station , where there is a connection to the other SkyTrain lines, the West Coast Express suburban railway and the SeaBus ferry. An opencast tunnel under Granville Street is followed by a drilled tunnel under the southern part of Granville Street, Davie Street and the False Creek inlet to the Olympic Village station on Cambie Street. The section to the tunnel portal south of 64th Avenue was again built using the opencast mining method.
Then the Canada Line becomes an elevated railway , where it crosses the northern branch of the Fraser River on a cable-stayed bridge and reaches the city of Richmond on Lulu Island . Due to the nature of the soil, a tunnel is not possible in this area. At Bridgeport station , the line splits into two branches. The main branch continues south along Number 3 Road into downtown Richmond. The branch line crosses the central estuary of the Fraser River in a westerly direction, reaches Sea Island and ends at Vancouver International Airport . Parts of the airport branch line are at ground level to enable the construction of a future runway for aircraft. Both branches are single-track at their ends.
Stations
16 stations are currently in operation. Nine of them are in Vancouver, four on Lulu Island and three on Sea Island. Another three stations are planned and could be added in the future. The platforms are 40 meters long, but can be extended by a further ten meters if necessary. Each station has elevators and escalators going up . Downward escalators are only available at the three end stations.
The King Edward station was built in two superimposed tunnels. Vancouver City Center Station is underground connected to the Pacific Center Mall and Vancouver Center Mall . However, there is no direct connection to the nearby, already existing Granville station , so you have to change trains at the Waterfront station. There are plans to extend the Millennium Line along Broadway further west to Cambie Street. This would create another transfer option at Broadway-City Hall . Appropriate preliminary construction work will therefore be provided for the construction of this station .
Trains
The trains used on the Canada Line run fully automatically, but unlike the Expo Line and the Millennium Line, they do not have linear motors from the Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) system from Bombardier . Instead, more conventional technology is used. The Canada Line was financed as part of a public-private partnership , which also includes private investors. Had they been committed to ART technology at an early stage, they would have been severely disadvantaged in the tender.
The contract was awarded Rotem , a subsidiary of Hyundai -Konzerns. A total of 20 trains have been ordered that can reach a top speed of 80 km / h. The trains consist of two articulated cars with a continuous passenger area, the estimated maximum capacity is 334 people. The length of the trains is 41 meters, the width 3 meters.
history
In 1995 the public transport company BC Transit published a report on the improvement of local public transport in the corridor between Vancouver, Richmond and the airport. Up for discussion were the expansion of the bus service ( Bus Rapid Transit ) and the use of a fully automated rail-bound means of transport (then known as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Line or RAV Line ).
In 2003 ten companies and consortia expressed their interest in the project. In December 2003 the number of possible applicants was reduced to three. These were RAVLink Transportation (with Fluor Corporation , Siemens Canada , MTR Corporation and Balfour Beatty Capital Projects), RAVxpress (with Bombardier , AMEC , Bouygues Travaux Publics and Bilfinger Berger ) and SNC-Lavalin / Serco (with SNC Lavalin and Serco ).
On June 30, 2004, TransLink's board of directors approved the RAV Line after rejecting it twice. But it reserved the right to abandon the project, all services should more expensive than the approved budget of 1.35 billion CAD to be. On November 19, 2004, the SNC-Lavalin / Serco consortium (later referred to as InTransitBC ) was awarded the contract. The current project was $ 343 million over budget, but numerous savings brought costs below the limits. The TransLink board of directors gave final approval on December 1, 2004.
On July 29, 2005, InTransitBC and TransLink signed the final contract for the planning, construction and operation of the new line for the first 35 years. The Serco Group left the consortium and was replaced by two pension funds. Construction work began in October 2005, and on November 25, 2005 Rotem was awarded the contract to build the trains. The opening of the Canada Line was initially planned for November 30, 2009, but could then be brought forward to August 17, 2009.
Web links
- Website of the operator TransLink
- Skytrain route network map
- Official project page
- Traffic Study (2003) ( Memento from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 1.6 MB)