Despite the recent increase in the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s project cost to $5.996 billion, the SLS remains the best value transit project in Canada today, offering higher ridership and/or lower cost-per-kilometre compared to several light rail transit (LRT) proposals.
SkyTrain for Surrey has reconvened to prepare an analysis of current rail transit proposals in Canada, aggregating cost information, ridership estimates, and other data; and comparing these costs on a per-km basis. Our analysis shows that the SLS, with its elevated light metro characteristics and driverless operation, still delivers better value-for-money, demonstrating the strength of the SkyTrain formula.
In a sample of projects including those in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, the SLS offers a lower cost per km, whilst still managing higher opening day ridership and higher average speed than all four surface LRT projects. We also looked at LRT proposals in Edmonton, Quebec City, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and other locales and found that many of these projects did not provide ridership or travel time estimates.
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| Cost | Opening day ridership | Average speed | Benefit-cost ratio | |
| Surrey-Langley SkyTrain 16km | $5.996 billion ($375 million per km) | 56,000 per day (3,500 per km) | 44.7 km/h | 1.02 |
| Green Line LRT (Calgary) Stage 1/Phase 1 10km | $6.248 billion ($625 million per km) | 32,000 per day (3,200 per km) | 33.6 km/h | Not estimated |
| PSE (Montreal East) 38 km | $18.6 billion ($490 million per km) | 97,000 per day (2,553 per km) | 30.5 km/h | Not estimated |
| Barrhaven LRT extension (Ottawa) 10km | $4.019 billion ($402 million per km) | Unknown (not estimated) | 31.2 km/h | Not estimated |
| Eglinton East LRT (Toronto) 18.6 km | $5.885 billion ($316 million per km) | Unknown (not estimated) | 22 km/h | 0.5 |
The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain will be a fully grade-separated driverless metro line, extending 16 kilometres to Langley City Centre Station, 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%.
Although the project (and its management by the provincial government) has been criticized in recent weeks, it is clear that high construction costs are a nationwide phenomenon for transit and infrastructure projects. In the midst of this, Surrey and Langley transit riders are getting a good deal with the choice to extend our existing SkyTrain driverless light metro system, rather than building a slower and inferior LRT.
View our full analysis below:
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]
Be sure to subscribe to the Surrrey-Langley SkyTrain's mailing list (on the contacts page of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain website) for official project updates! There is also now an official project email to get in touch with the planning team: [email protected].
