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Historical costs show SkyTrain construction rarely surpassed $100 million per km

  • Reality Check

Light rail advocates often say that SkyTrain’s estimated construction costs of over $100 million per kilometre to build make it prohibitively expensive—but actual SkyTrain projects we’ve built in the past were not actually that expensive.

Here is an overview of SkyTrain’s historical construction costs, based on our research:

Line or Expansion Name
Length in kilometres		Project componentsProject capital cost
(adjusted to 2011$)		Cost per kilometre
(adjusted to 2011$)
Expo Line Phase I (1986)
Waterfront to Columbia
21.4 km
  • 19.6km elevated or at-grade track
  • 1.8km refurbished tunnel
  • 16 stations
  • 114 ICTS Mk I cars
  • Burnaby OMC
$1.638 billion[1][2]$76.5 million/KM
Expo Line Phase II (1990)
Columbia to Scott Rd
3.1 km
  • 600m cable-stayed SkyBridge
  • 2.5km underground or high-level elevated track
  • 1 new station
  • 16 ICTS Mk I cars
$276.7 million[1][3][4]$89.3 million/KM
Expo Line Phase III (1994)
Scott Rd to King George
4.4 km
  • 4.4km elevated track
  • 3 new stations
  • 20 ICTS Mk I cars
$207.62 million[1]$47.2 million/KM
Millennium Line (2002)
Columbia to VCC-Clark
20.5 km
  • 19.7km elevated or at-grade track
  • 800m cut-and-cover tunnel
  • 13 new stations
  • 60 Bombardier ART 200 cars
  • Burnaby OMC expansion
$1.32 billion[5]$64.4 million/KM
Canada Line (2009)
Waterfront to Richmond/Airport
19.2 km
  • 6.75km cut-and-cover tunnel
  • 2.16km bored tunnel
  • 9.14km dual-track elevated
  • 1.15km single-track elevated
  • North and Middle Arm river crossings
  • North Arm pedestrian/cyclist bridge
  • 16 40-50m stations (several underground)
  • New Richmond OMC
  • 40 Hyundai Rotem cars
$2.16 billion[6]$112.5 million/KM
Evergreen Line (2016)
Lougheed Town Ctr. to Douglas
11 km
  • 2km bored tunnel
  • 9km elevated or at-grade track
  • 5 new stations
  • New Coquitlam OMC
  • 28 new SkyTrain cars
$1.4 billion[7]$127.27 million/KM

Footnotes

  1. On Track: The SkyTrain Story. Print, published by TransLink; values in the book are republished at South Fraser Blog[↩][↩][↩]
  2. $854 million in 1985 — SkyTrain: Transportation the World Looks Up To, Jan 1986, p.3[↩]
  3. $170 million in 1990 (budget) — as noted in Vancouver Regional Rapid Transit Project Quarterly – Winter 1986, p.11[↩]
  4. Note that On Track reports a $179 million final cost[↩]
  5. $1.079 billion in 2001 — Financial Statements of Rapid Transit Project 2000 Ltd. in FY2012, p.11[↩]
  6. $2.05 billion in 2009 (year of expenditure) — Canada Line Final Project Report — April 2006[↩]
  7. Evergreen Line Final Request for Qualifications document – 2008[↩]

Pictured in header: SkyTrain rolling along Millennium Line track

Reality Check

Reality Check is the online blog run by the founder of SkyTrain for Surrey, a BC-based community organization that has advocated for the expansion of the Vancouer SkyTrain system, including our successful advocacy for the under-construction Surrey Langley SkyTrain extension.

Media Contact: Daryl Dela Cruz ​– Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey ・ Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]

Historical costs show SkyTrain construction rarely surpassed $100 million per km