Inside the first built new generation SkyTrain, now in Metro Vancouver

Inside the first fully completed new generation SkyTrain in Metro Vancouver

The first completed new generation five-car Mark V train for SkyTrain. (TransLink)

Get ready for that “new train smell.”

TransLink has provided an interior visual update of the first new generation Mark V train that will be in use on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines. The design is consistent with the mockup showcased to media in 2021.

These are the five cars that make up the very first Mark V train to reach the end of the assembly line of Alstom’s train manufacturing plant in Kingston, Ontario and be delivered to the end user in Metro Vancouver.

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The cars first arrived at TransLink’s Edmonds SkyTrain train yard in Burnaby in December 2023, and they were subsequently reconnected as a five-car-long fully-articulated train, enabling passengers to walk from one end of the train to the other end.

These trains are similar to the Expo and Millennium lines’ newest trains currently in use, the Mark III, but they carry a range of distinct improved amenities and design features.

translink mark v skytrain completed 2024

The first completed new generation five-car Mark V train for SkyTrain. (TransLink)

These will also be the longest and highest-capacity trains in use on the entire SkyTrain network, filling the length of the 80-metre station platforms. 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 four-car Mark III train.

Under 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.

The increased passenger-carrying capacity is not only due to the longer length of the train, but also its interior design, with more open flex spaces for bikes, strollers, mobility devices, and/or standing capacity, more conventional side/perimeter seating commonly used on major subway systems around the world, and less row seating, which altogether enable more standing capacity.

translink skytrain mark v seating layout

Seating layout of the five-car Mark V train on SkyTrain. (TransLink)

The first completed new generation five-car Mark V train for SkyTrain. (TransLink)

Other new and improved features include a large LCD screen above the doors to provide real-time next station details and other useful trip information, a new interior strip indicator light at the doors to signal when they will close, and improved heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems for a more comfortable ride year-round. Interior screen panels next to the doors will also feature Indigenous art.

Since the first train was reconnected, it has been undergoing extensive local testing, which is expected to continue throughout most of 2024. This is in addition to the testing conducted by the manufacturer at their Kingston test track.

Altogether, TransLink has ordered 205 Mark V cars — or 41 five-car trains — from Alstom.

The 40 remaining five-car trains will gradually arrive in Burnaby and enter service between 2024 and 2028. TransLink indicated this week the first train that has already arrived is on target to enter regular service in late 2024.

The first completed new generation five-car Mark V train for SkyTrain. (TransLink)

When it comes to how these Mark V trains will be deployed, 125 cars (25 trains) will be used to retire the entirety of the fleet of 150 old Mark I cars from the 1980s and early 1990s, 80 cars (16 trains) will increase overall network capacity on both the Expo and Millennium lines, and 30 cars (six trains) will increase capacity on the Millennium Line for the Broadway extension’s opening in 2026. In late 2020, TransLink announced a $723 million train order contract with Bombardier, just prior to the company’s train division’s acquisition by Alstom.

To accommodate the length of these trains and their large 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 additional significant OMC will be built towards the end of this decade near the Langley end of the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension.

mark v skytrain translink test alstom kingston ontario august 2023

The first Mark V SkyTrain train being tested at Alstom’s facility in Kingston, Ontario, August 2023. (TransLink)

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