Canada Line station platforms extended for interchange with Broadway Subway | Daily Hive

Platform extension construction for the Canada Line's Broadway-City Hall Station, part of the Broadway Subway project, as seen on May 21, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

For the very first time since SkyTrain’s Canada Line was built more than a decade and a half ago, some station platforms are being extended in length.

Work is now well underway to extend both platforms at Broadway-City Hall Station as part of the Broadway Subway Project.

When the Canada Line was completed in 2009, most stations were built with 40-metre-long platforms — just long enough to accommodate the system’s two-car trains — while the remaining stations were designed with 50-metre-long platforms.

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Stations with 40-metre-long platforms were built with concealed walls enclosing void spaces that would allow for future 10-metre platform extensions, increasing platform lengths to 50 metres. This would not only improve circulation capacity on the platforms but also accommodate longer trains in the future, such as the addition of a third car.

One of the stations with a 40-metre-long platform is Broadway-City Hall Station. Construction crews have now removed the walls at the northern ends of the station’s platforms, revealing unfinished concrete space that will extend the platforms to 50 metres once completed.

canada line broadway city hall station platform extension may 21 2026

Platform extension construction for the Canada Line’s Broadway-City Hall Station, part of the Broadway Subway project, as seen on May 21, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

This work is being carried out to provide additional platform space for passengers waiting for trains and to improve passenger circulation, as Broadway-City Hall Station will soon be served by both the Canada Line and SkyTrain’s Millennium Line.

Upon the opening of the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus Street in Fall 2027, Broadway-City Hall Station is expected to see a very significant increase in ridership, with passengers using new underground pathways to transfer directly between the Canada Line and Millennium Line platforms.

Ahead of the extension’s opening, a new underground network of pathways featuring escalators, staircases, and elevators will be punched through the existing walls of both the Canada Line’s northbound and southbound platform levels, creating a seamless transfer connection with the Millennium Line. The entry for these pathways will be located next to the bottom of the escalator and staircase of the existing platforms.

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

broadway subway skytrain millennium line construction september 2025

September 2025 construction progress on one of the underground pedestrian tunnels for the interchange connection between the Canada Line and Millennium Line platforms at Broadway-City Hall Station. (Government of BC)

broadway subway skytrain millennium line construction march 2025

March 2025 construction progress on the Millennium Line station platforms at Broadway-City Hall Station. (Government of BC)

With the Millennium Line extension, Broadway-City Hall Station will become a major regional interchange hub on the SkyTrain network, offering a new SkyTrain route to Downtown Vancouver — reducing the current sole reliance on the Expo Line’s busiest segment — as well as improved access to the Cambie Corridor, Richmond, and Vancouver International Airport via transfers to the Canada Line.

In the interim, beginning next week, the Cambie Corridor will regain a major destination and Canada Line ridership generator when the highly anticipated new Oakridge Park mall (Oakridge Centre redevelopment) finally opens.

The brand-new indoor mall — topped off with a 7.5-acre destination public park on the rooftop — is scheduled to open on May 28, 2026, while the extensive upgrades and expansion of Oakridge-41st Avenue Station will be completed this summer.

Construction progress on the upgrades of SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station, as of May 11, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

Construction progress on the upgrades of SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station, as of May 11, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

skytrain oakridge-41st avenue station 2024 design

2024 finalized concept for the expansion of SkyTrain Oakridge-41st Avenue Station. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Quadreal Property Group/Westbank/TransLink)

On the Millennium Line extension, travel time between Commercial-Broadway Station — a key transfer point with the Expo Line — and Broadway-City Hall Station will be roughly five minutes. The end-to-end travel time between Commercial-Broadway Station and Arbutus Station will be approximately 12 minutes. From VCC-Clark Station, the current western terminus of the Millennium Line, the travel time to Arbutus Station will be about 11 minutes.

The extension will also significantly improve access to the University of British Columbia (UBC), with passengers able to transfer to a truncated 99 B-Line bus route at the new Arbutus Station — until the Millennium Line is eventually extended westward in the future to directly serve the UBC campus.

According to TransLink’s newly released 2025 ridership statistics, Broadway-City Hall Station recorded 3.559 million annual boardings, making it the 16th busiest station in the SkyTrain network. Average ridership reached 11,230 passengers per weekday, 7,450 per Saturday, and 5,960 per Sunday or holiday. This was up slightly from 3.535 million annual boardings in 2024.

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