Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain escalators to be replaced for $10.5 million

SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station escalators to be replaced for $10.5 million

Broken escalator on the Millennium Line platform at SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Expect some major inconveniences when accessing SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station, starting as early as next week.

TransLink announced today four old escalators will be replaced over the next two years at a total cost of $10.5 million, as part of SkyTrain’s replacement project of aging escalators.

This will begin with replacement work on December 18, 2023, on the two escalators that connect the concourse level and the Millennium Line platforms.

Then in Fall 2024, work will begin on replacing the two escalators on the north side of Broadway that connect the concourse level with the original East Broadway pedestrian overpass linking the Millennium Line and Expo Line platforms.

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The entire escalator replacement project should reach completion by Fall 2025.

This means passengers using the busy transit hub will need to rely more on the staircases and elevators.

The public transit authority states the new escalators will be more durable and easier to maintain, and they will have a variable speed option for power-saving and improved accessibility for maintenance to minimize downtime.

commercial broadway station skytrain millennium line f2

Millennium Line platforms at SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station. (TransLink)

All four of these escalators were constructed over 20 years ago when the northern portion of the transit hub — north of East Broadway — was built as part of the second SkyTrain line, the Millennium Line. They should not be confused with the escalators built for the transit hub’s major expansion in 2019.

The escalator upgrade project also comes just ahead of the opening of the Millennium Line Broadway Extension reaching Arbutus in 2026. The SkyTrain extension is expected to increase foot traffic streaming through the station between the Millennium Line and Expo Line platforms.

In recent years, a number of original escalators on other stations on the Expo and Millennium lines have also been replaced. Currently, TransLink is in the final stages of replacing the escalators at Burrard Station, which should reach completion in early 2024.

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