First look inside SkyTrain's new state-of-the-art control centre building | Daily Hive

Testing progress on SkyTrain's new Operations Control Centre building, September 2026. (TransLink)

For more than 40 years, SkyTrain’s brain and nerve centre has operated out of the Edmonds operations and maintenance centre (OMC1) in Burnaby. Today, it oversees the Expo and Millennium lines.

Built in the 1980s for the original SkyTrain route, a.k.a. the Expo Line, the control centre was integrated into OMC1’s train maintenance and storage facilities. It was considered state-of-the-art at a time when fully automated metro systems were still highly uncommon.

But over the decades, the control centre has become outdated and too small to meet the needs of the growing network. At one point, in the 2000s, it even drew ridicule for its reliance on floppy disks to help run the driverless trains.

During a 2023 interview and tour of OMC1, TransLink officials told Daily Hive Urbanized that the facilities no longer met modern standards or the system’s current and future needs. Control room operators worked side by side in very cramped conditions.

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Although the original control centre’s equipment and systems used to control the trains had been expanded and updated over the years — including for the 2002 opening of the original Millennium Line and the 2016 opening of the Millennium Line’s Evergreen extension — those improvements could only go so far within the existing space.

Operators, whose jobs carry considerable responsibility and stress, also lacked adequate amenities to support their optimal performance and well-being.

edmonds omc1 skytrain control centre expo millennium

The existing SkyTrain control centre for the Expo and Millennium lines at OMC1. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Now, the control centre built in 1985 is being replaced. Over the past four years, TransLink has been constructing a brand-new standalone Operations Control Centre building across the street at OMC2, which is a smaller SkyTrain maintenance complex. OMC2 sits on a former surface vehicle parking lot on the south side of Southridge Drive, while OMC1 is on the north side.

The four-storey-tall, oval-shaped building, clad in reflective stainless steel, is visible to Expo Line passengers travelling through the area.

Inside, the new control room replaces the old room’s numerous separate main display screens with a single, large, seamless display wall. New systems bring together information from dozens of sources, including automatic train control, staff communications, track intrusion detection, CCTV, and fare gate operations. TransLink likens this to the equivalent of consolidating what would otherwise be having many internet browser tabs open.

This gives operators a comprehensive view of the Expo and Millennium lines, helping them assess situations quickly, support staff in the field, and maintain reliable service.

Photos of the latest construction progress on the interior of the new control room show a space that looks somewhat like a miniature space launch control room.

skytrain operations control centre building burnaby edmonds omc2 september 2026

Construction progress on SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building, September 2026. (TransLink)

Testing progress on SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building, September 2026. (TransLink)

The control room occupies the top floor, with a major data centre on a lower level supporting automated train control and other systems. The building has about 40,300 sq. ft. of total floor area, including 28,500 sq. ft. of office and control centre space and 11,800 sq. ft. for the data centre and storage.

The facility is designed to meet the Expo and Millennium lines’ needs for decades to come. It will support a larger train fleet, additional operations and maintenance centres, and an expanding network.

That includes the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus (opening in late 2027), the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension (opening in late 2029), and longer-term projects such as the planned UBC SkyTrain extension and other seamless extensions of this existing network and infrastructure — extensions of the two existing lines and/or new lines — that have yet to be identified.

The building is also designed to withstand earthquakes, floods, and fires. Given its critical role in SkyTrain operations and passenger safety, it will be one of TransLink’s most secure facilities, if not the most secure, with a secured perimeter and a guardhouse.

Site of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building at OMC2. (TransLink)

Artistic rendering of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building on the existing parking lot of OMC2. (TransLink)

New control room floor plan of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building. (TransLink)

New data centre floor plan of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building. (TransLink)

Floor plan of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building. (TransLink)

Site plan of SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building. (TransLink)

Trains to run overnight on tracks for five months through early 2027 for new control room testing

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, in 2024, the new control centre was expected to cost $327 million — up from a 2021 estimate of $110 million based on an early design concept. As of December 2025, the cost has further increased to about $360 million.

TransLink attributes the increase to rising construction material, labour, and equipment costs, along with sharp price increases for the specialized technology, machinery, and software needed for the facility and its data centre.

According to TransLink, market prices between 2021 and 2024 have risen by 16 per cent for computers and peripherals, 62 per cent for power distribution equipment, and 36 per cent for equipment used to regulate temperatures. Globally, the average cost of data centre construction rose by 42 per cent between 2021 and 2024.

The public transit authority also told Daily Hive Urbanized that the tripling of the new control centre building’s cost is also due in part to the project absorbing the costs of other SkyTrain infrastructure improvement projects, including an automatic train control signals project, fibre optic upgrades, the security perimeter and guardhouse, and a parking lot reconfiguration for the OMC2 site.

Construction is now nearing full completion, and the new control centre is scheduled to open in 2027 — in time for the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension.

Testing of its systems is also nearly complete, including checks that the systems work together properly and that control room staff can use them effectively. The remaining operational tests involve longer simulations of situations staff will encounter during regular service.

The new centre’s procedures must meet the same standards as those at OMC1. TransLink is also gathering the evidence needed to demonstrate that the facility can operate safely and advance to the next preparation stage.

Preparations for opening include finalizing building maintenance programs and developing staff training plans so the facility, its equipment, and its operating procedures are ready for regular service.

To support the final stages of testing, TransLink announced today that all train models used on the Expo and Millennium lines will undergo tests on selected sections of track.

Testing will take place overnight, outside regular service hours, to avoid disrupting passengers. Beginning Oct. 3, 2026, it will run from 1:45 to 5:45 a.m. on Saturdays, 1:45 to 6:45 a.m. on Sundays, and 12:45 to 4:45 a.m. on Mondays.

Residents near outdoor sections of the lines may hear trains at times when they would not normally be running. To reduce noise impacts, TransLink will rotate testing locations instead of using the same area every night, and suspend alarms and announcements.

SkyTrain’s Canada Line has its own separate control centre at its operations and maintenance facility near Bridgeport Station. It was built in 2009 as a major component of that overall line project.

Future additional operations and maintenance centres

Meanwhile, TransLink is currently building OMC3, an additional operations and maintenance centre for the Expo and Millennium lines near Braid Station in Coquitlam.

The $1.3-billion OMC3 facility occupies 27 acres and is similar in size and significance to OMC1. It is expected to open in 2029 with capacity to maintain and store 145 cars, plus room for future expansion.

OMC3 will help meet existing operational needs and accommodate the new generation Mark V trains now arriving, but TransLink officials previously told Daily Hive Urbanized this is their “catch-up” depot, as such critical facilities have not matched the size of the extended network over the decades. It is something that should have been built after the Expo Line’s previous extensions into Surrey in the 1990s and the opening of the original Millennium Line.

Further ahead, working with the provincial government, TransLink plans to build OMC5 on a 37-acre site just off the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, on the vacant site at the southeast corner of the intersection of Fraser Highway and Highway 15. It will serve the extension, the broader Expo Line, and the wider SkyTrain network.

Major construction on the OMC5 project, expected to cost about $1 billion or more, is scheduled to begin in the early 2030s. Site preparation and early work are already underway, including clearing trees and vegetation and placing gravel and sand over the peat to compress the ground. Activity at the site is currently limited; the preload settlement period, when the weight of the added material is left to compress the ground before construction, began in Summer 2027 and is scheduled to continue until late 2029.

Summer 2022 construction progress on SkyTrain’s new Operations Control Centre building at OMC2 (left) and upgrades on OMC1 (right) to handle the new Mark V cars. (TransLink)

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