Expect longer waits for Canada Line this spring due to Capstan Station construction

Expect longer waits on Canada Line this spring due to Capstan Station construction

Broadway-City Hall on SkyTrain's Canada Line. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Construction on the new additional Capstan Station for SkyTrain Canada Line in Richmond is reaching a new phase of work, necessitating some scheduled disruptions to regular service this spring.

TransLink announced today passengers can expect longer wait times for Canada Line trains every weekend between April 30 and June 30, 2022. This will apply to the entire Canada Line route.

You might also like:

For the segment between Waterfront Station and YVR Airport Station, passengers can expect extra wait times of three minutes from the start of service in the early morning until 9 pm on Saturdays, and from the start of service until 7 pm on Sundays.

As well, for the segment between Bridgeport Station and Richmond-Brighouse Station, passengers can expect extra wait times of 13 minutes from the start of service in the early morning until 9 pm on Sundays, and from the start of service until 7 pm on Sundays.

Additionally, there will be single-tracking between Bridgeport Station and Richmond-Brighouse Station from April 26 to 29, 2022, which will be conducted from 6 pm to midnight daily. The single tracking will result in extra wait times of seven minutes.

To mitigate the significant reduction in train frequencies between Bridgeport Station and Richmond-Brighouse Station through both disruption periods, TransLink will deploy more bus service connecting the stations on the Richmond segment of the Canada Line. Buses will arrive up to every 10 minutes on weekends, and about every 15 minutes on weekday nights.

Artistic rendering of Capstan Station on SkyTrain Canada Line. (Office of McFarlane Biggar Architects & Designers/TransLink)

Construction on Capstan Station — near the northeast corner of the intersection of No. 3 Road and Capstan Way — began in September 2021. The station, located between Bridgeport and Aberdeen stations, is anticipated to reach completion and open in early 2023.

The $52-million station will serve the new high-density Capstan Village neighbourhood, which is expected to grow to 16,000 residents in 6,000 homes within roughly a 10-minute walking radius from the station. Between 2012 and 2020, the City of Richmond collected $32 million from the area’s residential developers towards covering the cost of building the station, with TransLink covering the remaining $20 million.

The station will offer new and improved design features compared to the original Canada Line stations on No. 3 Road, including longer and wider platforms, both up and down escalators, larger circulation areas for passengers, and space for a retail unit.

Scheduled single-tracking in Richmond for the station’s construction was also conducted earlier this year, but it ended weeks earlier than anticipated.

Artistic rendering of Capstan Station on SkyTrain Canada Line. (Office of McFarlane Biggar Architects & Designers/TransLink)

You might also like: