25% of Surrey-Langley SkyTrain's 16-km-long elevated guideway already built
In Summer 2025, the first of four specialized gantry crane machines was launched to assemble the 16-km-long elevated guideway for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project.
By the end of last year, all four machines had been launched and were actively lifting precast concrete segments of the guideway into place.
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Now, less than a year since the start of this highly specialized construction method, the elevated guideway has reached the quarter mark. The progress is impossible to miss along Fraser Highway, both in terms of visible changes and temporary construction impacts on the roadway.
The project office announced today that the machines have installed a combined total of four km — or 25 per cent — of the entire guideway between the existing King George Station in Surrey City Centre and the future Langley City Centre Station.
Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction, February 2026. (Government of BC)
Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction, February 2026. (Government of BC)
Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction, February 2026. (Government of BC)
Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction, March 2026. (Government of BC)
Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction, March 2026. (Government of BC)
At a temporary precast plant on a 30-acre site in Campbell Heights, all 4,400 concrete segments will be manufactured by Summer 2027. These segments are then transported incrementally to the Fraser Highway construction site, where they are fed to the machines.
The erection and installation of these segments using bridge-like cranes is highly repetitive, reliable, and relatively fast.
This equipment can be thought of as the elevated-construction equivalent of a tunnel boring machine. Compared to bored tunnel construction, elevated guideway construction is less costly, faster, and carries a lower risk of technical complications.
Major construction on the project began in November 2024, starting with the concrete columns that support the elevated guideway. More than 480 columns will support the extension, and they are also used temporarily to support the machines during construction. Once a segment between two columns is completed, the machine advances forward — much like a caterpillar — to repeat the process.
Each machine has been given a name: Clayton Clipper, Fleetwood Flyer, Langley Launcher, and Surrey Sprinter.
Precast concrete elevated guideway segments made at the temporary Campbell Heights manufacturing plant for Surrey-Langley SkyTrain, February 2026. (Government of BC)
Fleetwood Flyer gantry crane at Bakerview-166 Street Station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, as seen in July 2025. (Government of BC)
Fleetwood Flyer gantry crane at Bakerview-166 Street Station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, as seen in July 2025. (Government of BC)
Gantry crane machine routes for the construction of the concrete elevated guideway for Surrey-Langley SkyTrain. (Government of BC)
Some unique segments of the elevated guideway will not use precast concrete segments, such as the segment across Highway 15 (Pacific Highway/176 Street), where steel beams were recently installed. This location is also next to the future site of a 37-acre SkyTrain operations and maintenance centre (OMC5), with major construction expected to begin in a few years from now.
Construction of the entire elevated guideway is scheduled for completion in July 2027. Installation of trackwork and systems will begin this month and is expected to be completed by December 2028. Construction on the eight elevated stations and related work will also be finished by December 2028, with Green Timbers Way Station currently the most advanced.
Testing and commissioning are set to begin in December 2026 and continue through September 2029, with this $6-billion Expo Line extension expected to open before the end of 2029. SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway extension reaching Arbutus will open in Fall 2027.
April 2025 installation of an elevated guideway made of steal beams at Highway 15 for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain. (Government of BC)
April 2025 installation of an elevated guideway made of steal beams at Highway 15 for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain. (Government of BC)
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