Surrey LRT brought to life with new fly-through animation (VIDEO)

Artistic rendering of Surrey Central Station on the Surrey Newton-Guildford Light Rail Transit system. (TransLink)

TransLink has released a four-minute-long computerized fly-through animation video that shows what the Surrey Newton-Guildford Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line will look like running through the streets of Surrey.

It features the movement of the ground-level light rail trains and the design of the system’s most important stations given their role as either interchange stations with SkyTrain or terminus stations. These stations are Guildford Exchange, Surrey Central, King George, and Newton Exchange.

The 10.5-km-long route is L-shaped, running westward along 104 Avenue from Guildford Exchange and then southwards on King George Boulevard. Trains will travel on their own LRT-only travel lanes, and traffic signal priority will be provided.

Using a fleet of 16 light rail trains, the initial frequencies will be set at every five minutes during peak minutes and every 7.5 minutes during mid-day and off-peak periods.

Altogether, the system will have 11 stations and an end-to-end travel time of 27 minutes – nearly identical to the existing 96 B-Line rapid bus service along the exact same route.

The latest construction cost projection for the Surrey Newton-Guildford LRT is $1.65 billion, with construction beginning in 2020.

Ridership projections are pegged at: 42,000 to 46,000 per day upon opening in 2024; 51,000 to 55,000 per day in 2030; and 71,000 to 77,000 per day in 2045.

A future second phase will extend the LRT along Fraser Highway from King George Station to Langley Centre over a distance of about 16 km.

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