It’s a special day for the Canada Line as it turns five years old today!

The Canada Line officially opened on August 17, 2009, connecting downtown Vancouver with Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Richmond city centre. Thousands of people lined up for hours to be one of the first few to take a ride on the newest addition to the SkyTrain network.

The first train carrying its first passengers departed at 1 p.m. from Waterfront Station and within the first five hours, the Canada Line had carried 54,000 people.

Today, at its fifth birthday, Canada Line is moving 122,000 people each day – getting them to work, school, and play!

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Canada Line! Happy birthday to you!! =)

Canada Line Quick Facts

• The North Arm Bridge over the Fraser River is the first-ever extradosed bridge built in North America. What’s an extradosed bridge? It’s a specially designed bridge that is both a cantilevered and cable-stayed bridge.

• During the 17 days of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, over 3.8 million passengers travelled on the Canada Line.

• The two busiest days in the short five-year history of the Canada Line were during the Olympics and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. On February19, 2010, there were 297,000 boardings and on June 15, 2011, there were 183,000.

• Sweet Leilani was the name of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) responsible for boring twin tunnels, from South False Creek all the way to Waterfront Station. In the process, it removed over 200,000 cubic metres of rock.

• The Canada Line tunnels run side-by-side with the exception of between King Edward Avenue and Broadway, where they are stacked one on top of the other.

• Over 2,000 pre-cast concrete segments were strung together using a Launching Girder (LG) between the Marine Drive tunnel portal, Richmond-Brighouse and YVR-Airport stations.

• The Canada Line currently carries 6,100 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) and is designed for an ultimate capacity of 15,000 pphpd – more than double what it is now.
• Canada Line’s busiest day of the week is Friday.

Baby pics!

I want more Canada Line!

You can check out the Canada Line Photography blog, which has a large selection of photographs from the start of construction to opening day.

There’s so much more on the Canada Line on the Buzzer blog too! Click on one of the posts below:

• Canada Line turns one: photos from the opening, part 1
• Canada Line turns one: photos from the opening, part 2
• Canada Line turns one: photos from the opening, part 3
• Canada Line turns one: photos from the opening, part 4
• Canada Line and the Olympics
• Canada Line roundup: even more pics and video, and passport stamp info!
• Canada Line roundup: more pics + video, and Waterfront Station opening info
• First official Canada Line service day numbers! Plus how to work the new ticket machines
• Photo and video of Canada Line opening day
• Canada Line opening: Yaletown, Vancouver City Centre, Broadway-City Hall
• Canada Line opening: King Edward and Lansdowne
• Canada Line opening: Langara and Oakridge
• Canada Line opening: 1pm, all systems go
• Canada Line opening: first train!
• Canada Line opening: YVR breakfast
• Details of the Canada Line opening day festivities!
• …and much more in the Canada Line category!

Author: Allen Tung