First look at Commercial-Broadway Station's new additional platform (PHOTOS)

Finishing touches being made on the new inbound Expo Line platform at Commercial-Broadway Station. (TransLink)

We now have a first look at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station’s new additional fifth platform.

The temporary wooden fencing at the station’s Expo Line platforms has been concealing the construction activity of a new fifth platform, which will provide the Expo Line’s inbound direction towards downtown Vancouver with two platforms.

TransLink says this fencing will start coming down next week, and passengers will be able to see the new platform and its architecturally-unique roof structure from the existing Expo Line platforms.

Finishing touches being made on the new inbound Expo Line platform at Commercial-Broadway Station. Photo taken in November 2018. (TransLink)

Finishing touches being made on the new inbound Expo Line platform at Commercial-Broadway Station. The new overhead walkway is in the background of this photo. Photo taken in November 2018. (TransLink)

Construction progress on the new fifth platform at Commercial-Broadway Station covered by hoarding and fencing from the Expo Line platforms. Photo taken in June 2018. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

When the new platform is fully complete and ready to take on passenger loads in early-2019, all doors on the inbound trains will open after stopping at the station, allowing passengers to board and disembark from both sides of the train.

This dual platform arrangement, used elsewhere in the world and referred to as the ‘Spanish Solution’, provides significantly more station circulation capacity, effectively reducing overcrowding at the station by dispersing passengers.

Artistic rendering of the new fifth platform at Commercial-Broadway Station for the Expo Line’s inbound direction. (TransLink)

Artistic rendering of the new fifth platform at Commercial-Broadway Station for the Expo Line’s inbound direction. (TransLink)

A new overhead walkway over Broadway links the new platform with the north side of Broadway and the Millennium Line platforms.

Ample vertical circulation capacity has been designed between street level and the new platform, which has four new escalators (providing both up and down escalator access), two sets of staircases, and two new elevators.

The south side of Broadway will have two escalators, one elevator, and a staircase, while the north side — beyond the new overhead walkway — will also have two escalators, one elevator, and a staircase.

Finishing touches being made on the new escalators and staircases reaching the new overhead walkway over Broadway from the Millennium Line platforms and north side of Broadway at Commercial-Broadway Station. Photo taken in November 2018. (Kenneth Chan)

Finishing touches being made on the widened walkway between the Millennium Line platforms and the north side of Broadway at Commercial-Broadway Station. Photo taken in November 2018. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Other upgrades include a significantly widened overhead walkway over the Grandview Cut to the Millennium Line platforms, expanded concourse areas, new in-station retail spaces, replacement of old metal mesh panels with glass panels, improved lighting, and a new major secure bike parkade with a capacity to hold over 70 bikes.

Construction on the $60-million SkyTrain station expansion and upgrade project began in mid-2015. The project was originally slated for a summer opening, but it was later pushed to this fall and now early next year.

As a part of the project, a new super-sized bus shelter for the 99 B-Line’s westbound direction towards UBC opened this past summer.

Station capacity upgrades are needed given that Commercial-Broadway Station is the region’s busiest transit hub with 90,000 train trips and 60,000 bus trips on a daily basis.

As a major hub and with the high rate of growth in regional transit ridership, the station is anticipated to become even busier over the coming years, especially once the Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension opens.

Full diagram of the upgrades at Commercial-Broadway Station. Click on the image for an enlarged version. (TransLink)

Existing passenger flows

Existing morning peak hour passenger circulation flows through Commercial-Broadway Station. (TransLink)

Future passenger flows

Future morning peak hour passenger circulation flows through Commercial-Broadway Station after expansion and upgrades. (TransLink)

See also