Millennium Line

Millennium Line
Two trains meeting at Brentwood Station
Overview
Type	Light Metro Rapid Transit
System	SkyTrain
Termini	Waterfront via Columbia VCC–Clark
Stations	13
Operation
Opened	January 2, 2002
Owner	TransLink (BC Transit)
Operator(s)	British Columbia Rapid Transit Company
Rolling stock	Bombardier ART Mark I and Mark II
Technical
Line length	20.3 km (12.6 mi)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	Third rail (Linear motor)
Operating speed	80 km/h (50 mph)
Route map

The Millennium Line is the second rapid transit line built in the SkyTrain metro system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The line is owned and operated by TransLink. Millennium Line uses the colour yellow on route maps, wayfinding and station signage.

History

When the Expo Line opened in 1985, an extension to Lougheed Mall in east Burnaby was proposed. The most likely junction point for the spur to Lougheed Mall would have been from Royal Oak Station, up Edmonds Street to Lougheed Mall, although early SkyTrain route maps also suggested an extension northeast from New Westminster. Neither plan was ever realized, although the extension of Expo Line tracks to Columbia Station in 1989 and the completion of the Skybridge to Surrey in 1990 resulted in a short spur east of Columbia Station, which was ultimately incorporated into the new Millennium Line.

In the late 1990s, the British Columbia government announced that an entirely new line would be built from VCC–Clark Station to Columbia Station via Lougheed Mall (served by Lougheed Town Centre Station), as the first phase of the "T-Line" outlined in the GVRD's Livable Region Strategic Plan that extended into Coquitlam. The government's choice of Bombardier's technology meant that the first phase of the line would have to connect to the existing Expo Line to use its maintenance yard. Connecting the two lines at Broadway Station was deemed impracticable, so the lines were connected in New Westminster. Switches to the Millennium Line were installed on the Expo Line at the north end of the Skybridge. Expo Line service was reduced to a single track over the Skybridge during the installation of these switches.

The second phase of the Millennium Line was to be an extension from Lougheed Mall to Coquitlam (then known as the Port Moody-Coquitlam (PMC) Line), which would have provided a "one seat ride" from Coquitlam to VCC–Clark Station. Switches to the PMC Line were installed to the east of Lougheed Town Centre Station and a third platform was roughed-in in anticipation of the extension. Phase II was cancelled following a change in provincial government.

The Millennium Line opened on January 2, 2002, with trains initially operating between Waterfront Station on the Expo Line and Braid Station in eastern New Westminster - this was referred to as Phase I. Service was extended to Commercial–Broadway Station (then 'Commercial Drive Station'), or Phase II of construction, on September 4, 2002. Lake City Way Station opened on November 21, 2003. Three years later, the line was extended to its present terminus, VCC–Clark Station, opening on January 6, 2006.

Millennium Line trains follow the Expo Line from Waterfront to Columbia Stations, then loop back into Vancouver via a new route, passing through Commercial–Broadway Station again at a different platform, and terminating at VCC–Clark Station.

In 2007, the non-interlined portion of the Millennium Line served an average of 70,000 passengers per day. Of these, 14,000 passengers arrived on trains travelling from Expo Line stations west of Columbia Station, and 7,000 transferred from the Surrey section of the Expo Line.^[1] Since then, it is estimated that ridership has grown to at least 80,000 passengers per day.^[2]

Route

Millennium Line Route Map

Millennium Line

Legend UBC Loop SeaBus Lonsdale Quay proposed extension West Coast Express Mission Waterfront Burrard Canada Line Richmond Canada Line Richmond Granville proposed extension Stadium–Chinatown VCC–Clark Main Street–Science World Commercial–Broadway Nanaimo Renfrew 29th Avenue Rupert Joyce–Collingwood Trans-Canada Highway Vancouver Zone 1 Burnaby Zone 2 Vancouver Zone 1 Burnaby Zone 2 Patterson Gilmore Metrotown Brentwood Town Centre Royal Oak Holdom Edmonds Sperling–Burnaby Lake Edmonds Yard Lake City Way Burnaby New Westminster Production Way–University 22nd Street Lougheed Town Centre New Westminster   future Evergreen Line Coquitlam Columbia Trans-Canada Highway Expo Line Surrey Burnaby Coquitlam Coquitlam New Westminster Sapperton Braid

From Waterfront to Columbia Stations. Expo and Millennium Line trains stop at the same stations. The Millennium Line tracks pass through a tunnel for about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), east of Columbia Station, then are elevated above the CN/BNSF right-of-way through eastern New Westminster. The tracks run through Coquitlam, south of the Trans-Canada Highway to Lougheed Town Centre. There are currently no stations in Coquitlam, but original plans for the line proposed a "finger" looping into Coquitlam with a station at Mallairdville, but this was deleted following opposition from the community. From Lougheed Town Centre, the line is elevated, running down the middle or along the side of Lougheed Highway to just west of Brentwood Town Centre, where it picks up the CN/BNSF right-of-way again, being elevated until Renfrew Station, then travelling through the Grandview Cut to Commercial Drive terminating at VCC–Clark Station.

Future extensions

West extension

A long-term proposal exists to extend the line further west first along Great Northern Way on the ex-Finning land, today Great Northern Way Campus, with a couple of further possibilities:

• south to Main Street and Broadway, running under 10th Avenue, through the Mount Pleasant and Fairview neighbourhoods in Vancouver south of False Creek, to serve the commercial and hospital area along central Broadway, including a connection to the Broadway – City Hall Station on the Canada Line. The terminus of this proposed route would be at either Arbutus, Burrard, Granville Street or even all the way to the University of British Columbia main campus. Or;
• continuing along 2nd Avenue to the Canada Line Olympic Village Station on Cambie Street.

On January 14, 2008, the BC government announced a commitment to the expansion of the Millennium Line to UBC by 2020 as part of a $14 billion transit spending package to address global warming. It was not initially clear exactly what route the new line would take, but it was hinted that there would be less use of cut-and-cover to minimize disruption to businesses along Broadway and avoid the same problems seen during the Canada Line construction along Cambie Street.^[3]

As of January 2011, Translink was in the midst of a study on various options for improved transit out to UBC, including a westward SkyTrain extension from VCC–Clark Station.^[4]

Evergreen Extension

The Evergreen extension of the Millennium Line is now under construction, having commenced major work in 2013 and opening for service in summer 2016. In Coquitlam, a SkyTrain extension from Lougheed Town Centre Station to Coquitlam Town Centre was proposed when the original Millennium Line was built, and the necessary junction tracks were built at Lougheed Town Centre Station (which will now be used in 2016). Plans subsequently evolved to building a tram line instead of SkyTrain, which meant that the junction tracks would have remained unused. However, in February 2008, plans reverted to the use of SkyTrain technology to facilitate higher ridership, shorten travel times and to integrate seamlessly with the existing SkyTrain network.^[5]

See also

• Skytrain rolling stock
• 99 B-Line

References

External links

• TransLink - The agency that owns and operates SkyTrain.
• YouTube - Millennium Line Timelapse