https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2026/01/15/finch-lrt-shut-down-all-day-due-to-weather-conditions It should have been a proper subway line, protected from the crappy snow & ice. In contrast, Edmonton & Calgary are mostly surface lines and can usually run through the terrible winter conditions.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/line-6-finch-west-lrt-delays-snowstorm-ttc-updates/
https://www.ttc.ca/riding-the-ttc/Line-6-Finch-West
https://globalnews.ca/news/11615259/ontario-office-mandate-snow-day
As Australia & NZ get some intense summer weather, Canada is constantly reminded that winter isn't always a fun time. While its sunny and well above freezing in Vancouver & Victoria, Toronto & Montreal are stuck right in the middle of total winter conditions.
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article760907.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reseau_express_metropolitain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent
| Train length | 38.1 m (125 ft) per unit |
|---|---|
| Car length | 19.05 m (62 ft 6 in) over coupler faces |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Metropolis_Saint-Laurent#Design_and_construction Two 125 foot trains = 250 feet, or half the length of a 9 car Metro train.
An 8 car [19.05 m (62 ft 6 inch)] REM train version of this would be great for Vancouver, but an improved Skytrain could be just as good. Unfortunatly, BC has a tough time thinking big for the future.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/18/rem-service-disruptions-continue/
However, any elevated line or exposed rapid transit train in Montreal, is always potentially disrupted during the winter.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-rem-out-of-service-1.7461000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9seau_express_m%C3%A9tropolitain#Future_sections
The genius of the Montreal_Metro trains is that they are all underground.
https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/17/stormy-weather-continues-in-montreal/
Vancouver & BC always have a difficult time in properly planning & building infrastructure for significant future capacity. Thus, just because the SkyTrain is considered to be a Light Rail Vehicle, it still should have been designed to eventually have (152.5m) long trains, like the Montreal Metro has. If you are visiting from Montreal or Toronto, you will be shocked as to how short the Vancouver SkyTrains & stations are.
It's not that BC is in some kind of a timewarp, it's just that there has been some kind of a strange multigenerational mentality or agenda. Since the BC part of Canada doesn't have the authority or the technology to generate a force_field around its perimeter, the next best thing was to have very restrictive laws. That's especially the case for Vancouver & Victoria. Plus, a general encouragement to symbolically think small & backwards.
Having short trains, narrow bridges & mostly short buildings, all fits in with the symbolism of a reluctance to accommodate significant urban growth. Canada it self is also part of this larger predicament. Despite its size, Canada is nowhere close to containing even just 1% of the worlds population. Given that most of the human population is non-white, this poses an interesting dilemma.
Of course during tougher economic times, immigration is generally frowned upon. However, even during various economic boom-times, Vancouver & Victoria continued to lag behind with the scale of its infrastructure development.
Snow in even the more prepared cities can still be such a pain.
https://www.alberta.ca/blizzards-freezing-rain-ice-storms-and-extreme-cold
Some people really like winter.
While many others dread the perpetual cold weather.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-severe-winter-weather-1.7460768
https://weather.gc.ca/data/wxoimages/wocanmap0_e.jpg A time of the year when every city in Canada is frozen over, except for Victoria & Vancouver. A lot of people from within Canada, or from around the world don't like -10C days & -20C nights with a windchill in the -30s. Usually mild Vancouver & Victoria have been very reluctant to accept the scale of growth that is commonplace in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary & Edmonton.
https://weather.gc.ca/canada_e.html
