First new generation SkyTrain cars arrive in Metro Vancouver

New Mark V SkyTrain cars arrive at TransLink's Edmonds facility in Burnaby, December 2023. (TransLink)

After a cross-country journey on the Trans-Canada Highway from Alstom’s train manufacturing facility in Kingston, Ontario, the first new generation SkyTrain car has arrived at TransLink’s SkyTrain home base in Burnaby.

Five flatbed trucks travelling in a caravan — each carrying one of the five cars of the first new Mark V train made on the assembly line — began their journey on the road about two weeks ago, and arrived in Metro Vancouver earlier this week.

And just in time for Christmas, after all.

Now, SkyTrain crews will connect the cars to create a fully articulated five-car long train, which will be the longest trains yet on the SkyTrain system, providing the highest passenger capacities.

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This order of 205 Mark V cars will create 41 five-car-long trains, which will operate on the Expo and Millennium lines.

skytrain mark v train arrival burnaby december 2023

New Mark V SkyTrain cars arrive at TransLink’s Edmonds facility in Burnaby, December 2023. (TransLink)

skytrain mark v train arrival burnaby december 2023 3

New Mark V SkyTrain cars arrive at TransLink’s Edmonds facility in Burnaby, December 2023. (TransLink)

Each new five-car Mark V train will be able to carry about 25% more passengers than the existing four-car Mark III train.

The five-car Mark V train will be able to hold 672 passengers regularly, both seated and standing, while the four-car Mark III train can currently hold 533 passengers. This is an increase of 139 people per train compared to the current largest train, which is the four-car Mark III train.

In terms of crush capacity, the Mark V train can potentially hold up to 1,207 passengers, whereas the Mark III train can handle up to 940 passengers.

These new cars also carry new interior design features, such as an improved seating and standing configuration with flex spaces, a large video screen above the doors for the programmable display of useful information, including next station details, and Indigenous art.

Earlier this year, the first completed Mark V train underwent extensive testing at the manufacturer’s facility in Kingston, with provided video footage showing the train making looping runs around the test track.

First new Mark V SkyTrain cars being loaded onto flatbed trucks in Kingston, Ontario for delivery, December 2023. (Alstom/C. Fleury)

TransLink states that after the first five cars are reconnected into a single train in Burnaby, they will undergo extensive testing throughout most of 2024. This means that if all goes as planned, the first Mark V train could potentially enter service later in 2024.

The 40 remaining five-car trains will gradually arrive in Burnaby and enter service between 2024 and 2028.

These new trains will be used to retire the entirety of the fleet of 150 old Mark I cars from the 1980s and early 1990s, increase overall network capacity on both the Expo and Millennium lines, and increase capacity on the Millennium Line for the Broadway extension’s opening in 2026.

In order to accommodate the length of these trains and their great numbers, TransLink is making major investments into expanding maintenance and storage capacity, including improvements to SkyTrain’s original operations and maintenance (OMC) centre at Edmonds, and the construction of a new additional major OMC near Braid Station in Coquitlam, which is expected to be ready by 2026/2027. Another new additional significant OMC will be built towards the end of this decade near the Langley end of the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension.

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