On July 9, 2021, the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain (the “SLS”) became officially fully funded with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement of $1.3 billion in federal funding. In addition, the City of Surrey has commenced various early works this week, including road works and property modifications to support the future SkyTrain. Combined with existing funding from TransLink (through the Regional Mayors’ Council) and the provincial government, the 16-kilometre extension of SkyTrain’s Expo Line to Langley City is finally set to become a reality.
With these events, our efforts spanning the last 10 years to secure a major expansion of the SkyTrain system into Surrey and Langley have ended with a resounding victory. We are, of course, especially pleased that the funding enables the construction of the full 16-kilometre line in a single phase.
The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain will be a fully grade-separated driverless metro line, extending 16 kilometres to 203 Street in the City of Langley, and integrating with the existing Expo Line at King George Station. It will significantly cut travel times—from Fleetwood, Clayton, Langley City and nearby areas, to downtown Surrey and beyond—all while generating 60%+ higher return on investment compared to the previous surface-level LRT proposal, and achieving a world-leading on-time performance rate of over 95%.
The SLS offers plenty of capacity headroom for ridership growth and new developments, and contributes to building a regional network, with trips from Langley City to Downtown Surrey taking just 22 minutes, and from Langley City to Waterfront Station in Vancouver taking just under 1 hour. Further SkyTrain expansions and other projects will allow for seamless connections to S.F.U. on Burnaby Mountain and the University of British Columbia.
The SLS has been driven by high public support during two major elections (municipal, and then provincial) as well as high public support region-wide as verified by several public polls. We are grateful that the project has also received the endorsement of several of our elected leaders (municipal, provincial and federal), the Regional Mayors’ Council, and TransLink.
Finally, we would like to issue a heartfelt thanks to all of you (our supporters) for your continued support and enthusiasm over the last 10 years, in our common belief that SkyTrain expansion is the best way to go. Your support was critical in making this all possible.
SkyTrain for Surrey is the community organization that advocated for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. From our beginnings as a petition calling for the scrapping of a street-level LRT proposal, we grew into a community of like-minded folk, taking on various projects such as making SkyTrain an election issue in 2018 as a registered advocacy group. SkyTrain for Surrey continues to call for high-quality transit infrastructure projects serving Surrey, Delta and the Langleys.
Daryl Dela Cruz – Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey
Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]
