SkyTrain’s Canada Line marks 15th anniversary

August 16, 2024
|In History
|By Sydney Lambert and Allen Tung

SkyTrain’s Canada Line marks 15th anniversary

August 16, 2024
|In History
|By Sydney Lambert and Allen Tung

Canada Line car

The SkyTrain’s Canada Line marks its 15th anniversary in 2024.

While we celebrate 15 years of scenic connection between Richmond and downtown Vancouver, let’s explore some fun facts about this SkyTrain line.

15 facts about the Canada Line at its 15th anniversary

  • The Canada Line is a 19-kilometre SkyTrain line with 16 stations, two bridges, and nine kilometres of tunnel.
  • The Canada Line opened on Aug. 17, 2009. It was marked with festivities throughout the new line and free rides from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.
  • The first train departed from Waterfront Station at 1 p.m. and within the first five hours, the line had already carried 54,000 people! By the end of the day, nearly 100,000 trips were taken.
  • Lucky riders received an Opening Day Boarding Pass and a souvenir Canada Line passport, which they received stamps for at 11 stations along the line for to enter for a chance to win prizes. 
  • During the planning phase, the line was known as the Richmond–Airport–Vancouver (RAV) project. It received its Canada Line name in November 2005.
  • There were approximately 230,000 daily trips on the Canada Line during the Olympic Games in 2010.
  • The deepest portion of the Canada Line is between Olympic Village and Yaletown–Roundhouse as it travels through a bored tunnel underneath False Creek.
  • When the Millennium Line extension to Arbutus Station opens, customers will be able to seamlessly transfer between the Canada and Millennium Lines at Broadway–City Hall Station in less than three minutes.
  • The Canada Line had more than 120,000 daily boardings on an average weekday in 2023.
  • The Canada Line has two transit-only bridges: the Middle Arm Bridge and North Arm Bridge. The Middle Arm Bridge spans the Canada Line across the Fraser River, connecting Bridgeport Station to Templeton Station on Sea Island.
  • The North Arm Bridge also spans the Canada Line across the Fraser River, connecting Marine Drive Station and Bridgeport Station. It was North America’s first extradosed bridge, a bridge specially designed that is both a cantilevered and cable-stayed bridge.
  • Attached to the side of the North Arm Bridge is the Canada Line Bike and Pedestrian Bridge — a vital link for active transportation between Vancouver and Richmond. In 2022, we added an art installation featuring murals designed by three xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band) artists reflecting the past, present, and future of the region through the lens of colonialism and reconciliation.
  • The tunnels mostly run side-by-side, except between King Edward and Broadway–City Hall stations, where they are stacked one on top of the other.
  • According to Vancouver International Airport’s 2023 Sustainability Report, 21 per cent of departing passengers reported using the Canada Line for their journey to the airport.
  • A 17th station is currently under construction. Capstan Station is set to open in the coming months.

Canada Line construction photos

Check out these photos of the Canada Line platforms under construction at Waterfront Station and the concourse at Vancouver City Centre Station.

Looking down the hall on the concourse level.
Inside the under construction Vancouver City Centre Station
The platform of Waterfront Station.
The platform of the under construction Waterfront Station.
The long hallway at the concourse level.
The long hallway at the concourse level of Vancouver City Centre Station

This is just a sampling! Want to see more construction photos? Check out these other photos from 2008 published on The Buzzer showing Yaletown–Roundhouse, Vancouver City Centre, Waterfront stations.

Historical Canada Line posts on The Buzzer

We’ve been publishing the The Buzzer blog for nearly 15 years! Check out these posts about the Canada Line from when it opened:

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