Six-hour SkyTrain shutdown caps chaotic pre-Christmas morning in Metro Vancouver | Daily Hive

Large crowds and lengthy waits for buses outside Commercial-Broadway Station due to a medical emergency on SkyTrain's Expo Line on the morning of Dec. 23, 2025, resulting in the suspension of train service between Stadium-Chinatown Station and Commercial-Broadway Station. (@hina_vancovuer/X)

An unusually high number of incidents caused major transportation challenges across Metro Vancouver by road and public transit on this pre-Christmas morning, with some disruptions extending into the early afternoon.

A collision on the eastbound Port Mann Bridge at approximately 6:30 a.m. caused brief delays before the scene was cleared shortly after 7 a.m.

About an hour later, at 7:30 a.m., as the peak morning commute was well underway, a police incident forced the complete closure of the Lions Gate Bridge, with traffic redirected to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. The crossing reopened roughly an hour later once the incident was resolved.

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However, the most severe disruptions occurred on the SkyTrain, where two separate incidents affected opposite ends of the Expo Line in Vancouver and Surrey.

At the start of service, just before 5:30 a.m., a stalled train required a shuttle train to operate between Surrey Central Station and King George Station. Passengers were forced to transfer at Surrey Central to continue their journey on the Expo Line. The issue was not resolved until about 6:40 a.m.

Around the same time, just before 6:50 a.m., Expo Line delays began due to a medical emergency at Main Street-Science World Station. By 7 a.m., service between Commercial-Broadway Station and Stadium-Chinatown Station was fully suspended.

Passengers faced lengthy detours and significant delays as TransLink deployed additional buses to bridge the affected SkyTrain stations. However, the bus shuttle service was quickly overwhelmed, as the shutdown impacted the busiest segment of the SkyTrain network — the downtown Vancouver route — during the height of the morning rush.

Regular Expo Line service between Main Street-Science World Station and Commercial-Broadway Station finally resumed at 1 p.m., ending a highly disruptive shutdown that lasted more than six hours — one of the longest such interruptions in recent years.

skytrain delays expo line commercial-broadway dec 23 2025 f2

Large crowds and lengthy waits for buses outside Commercial-Broadway Station due to a medical emergency on SkyTrain’s Expo Line on the morning of Dec. 23, 2025, resulting in the suspension of train service between Stadium-Chinatown Station and Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenny Ho)

Looking ahead, starting in Fall 2027, similar service disruptions on the Expo Line between downtown Vancouver and Commercial-Broadway Station should be relatively less severe. The Millennium Line’s new Broadway extension to Arbutus will allow passengers to travel from Commercial-Broadway Station to Broadway-City Hall Station, where they can transfer to the Canada Line. The travel time between Commercial-Broadway Station and Broadway-City Hall Station will be roughly six minutes.

While the Canada Line would likely experience crowding during such disruptive incidents, the extension will still at least provide a critical alternative SkyTrain route to downtown, reducing reliance on bus bridge shuttle services alone.

In recent years, TransLink also launched a feasibility study exploring the potential installation of platform screen doors at SkyTrain stations.

Diagram showing the interchange hub between the Millennium Line and Canada Line at Broadway-City Hall Station. (Government of BC)

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