'Mind The Gap' at some SkyTrain stations with the new Mark V trains | Daily Hive

A Mark V train at Commercial-Broadway Station on SkyTrain's Expo Line. (Kenneth Chan)

Some SkyTrain riders are raising accessibility concerns after noticing that the new generation Mark V train is not level with some of the station platforms.

This horizontal gap has prompted TransLink to add an additional pre-recorded announcement just before the train stops at Burrard Station on the Expo Line, warning passengers to “Mind The Gap” as they exit the train.

This is the very first time such a pre-recorded onboard voice announcement has been made to any station on the SkyTrain network, but such gap issues and warning announcements are very common on many subways and metro rail systems elsewhere in the world, with the “Mind The Gap” phrase first introduced on the London Underground nearly six decades ago.

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In a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry, a TransLink spokesperson said the public transit authority takes “great care in ensuring our trains are specified to meet accessibility standards” and acknowledged that “the gaps are creating problems for some of our customers.”

Just caught the new Mark V #SkyTrain on my way home from the fireworks.

We’re now one of those “Mind The Gap” metros with this announcement at Burrard Station. 🚇 pic.twitter.com/vpxyTTOtPZ

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) July 27, 2025

“We take their feedback seriously and are looking to see where we may be able to mitigate and resolve these issues,” said the spokesperson, noting that the public transit authority aims to meet the Americans with Disability Act standards for horizontal gaps between the train and station platform, and in most cases they either meet or exceed those recommendations.

On July 11, after many months of testing, TransLink put the very first Mark V train into regular service. In total, by 2029, TransLink will receive a total of 235 Mark V cars for 47 five-car-long trains. TransLink expects to receive one Mark V train every month over the coming years.

The spokesperson noted that before they rolled this first train into service, they added a gap filler where necessary to the ends of the platforms to accommodate the longer trains and ensure they were below the gap standards. When this train began testing, it was determined that they could further fill the gaps on the west end of the Burrard Station platforms, with this work set to take place over the coming months.

With the introduction of the Mark V, SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines now have four different generations of trains operating on the system — each with its own unique technical differences. Later this decade, the aging Mark I trains from the 1980s and early 1990s will be fully retired and replaced by a substantial portion of the new Mark V fleet.

Unveiling of SkyTrain’s first new Mark V train on July 10, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

TransLink’s spokesperson emphasized that a “dynamic envelope” must be maintained around each train — a buffer space or a physical gap for a train to move safely. Adding more gap fillers increases the risk of a train making physical contact with the platform, as trains not only move in a direction but also sway.

When it comes to why there is a vertical gap of a height difference between the train floor and the platform level, there is a wide range of factors that contribute to such issues, impacting the height of the train, which can change over time.

“There are several variables that affect the vertical gaps, including the number of passengers on a train, wheel/rail wear over time, and platform settling due to natural environmental factors. We maintain a large and complex system of vehicles and stations, all of which are subject to local conditions,” continued the spokesperson.

“We consistently work with accessibility groups and prior to the launch of the Mark V trains, we did testing with people with all sorts of abilities in various weather conditions.”

For the time being, over the next few years, the Mark V trains are only expected to operate on the Expo Line, although they are also technically capable of running on the Millennium Line.

This is not the first time such vertical gap concerns have been raised for accessibility reasons; in 2019, when more of the then-new generation Mark III trains were being introduced, some passengers in wheelchairs indicated they had issues with rolling onto the trains from the platforms. However, at the time, TransLink noted that this was a rare problem.

On other subway and metro rail systems, there are even curved station platforms that create extremely wide gaps due to the complete geometry mismatch between the straight train body and the curved platform edge.

“Mind The Gap” warning on the London Underground. (Mounir Taha/Shutterstock)

London, England – April 20, 2023; Underground train in Elephant and Castle station in London, England

Globally, there is a wide variation in platform height and train floor standards. Many platforms and train models were designed under different norms, and retrofitting to unify them is often impractical. Older or diverse train models and station platform designs contribute significantly to gaps.

Some systems have deployed the use of automatic gap fillers for very wide gaps, which are mechanized and deployed from the platform or the train when a train stops at the station.

TransLink is also in the process of studying the feasibility of installation platform screen doors for SkyTrain stations, which would increase safety and capacity on the platforms, and greatly improve reliability from drastically reducing the frequency of a range of track intrusion incidents. This study is expected to reach completion this year.

One of the main challenges in installing platform screen doors on the Expo and Millennium lines is the diverse train fleet, which results in varying door spacings. The upcoming retirement of the Mark I trains would help reduce this door placement complexity, but the installation process would still be difficult, as platform screen doors are typically implemented on brand-new train lines.

While there are many examples of platform screen doors being added onto existing systems through extensive station platform retrofits, such as on some of the old subway stations of the London Underground, the process is significantly more challenging without disrupting existing busy services.

Artistic rendering of the trains and platform screen doors of Toronto’s new Ontario Line. (Metrolinx)

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