https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-expo-line-surrey-gateway-station-track-switch-disruptions-summer-2025
For a line that first opened in 1985, it took until 2025 to try to start running 5 car trains of the latest generation of rolling stock. Considering that Greater Vancouver has a narrower road network than Montreal, the SkyTrain stations should have been designed to accomodate 10 car trains.
While the Alstom_Mark_V vehicles look nice & modern, a 5 car train is a half-length reminder of how much nicer & better a 10 car train would look.
Just because the SkyTrain is considered to be a Light Rail Vehicle, there still should have been a provision to eventually have the stations to be as long as the longest ones on the Montreal Metro. The Montreal Metro has 500 foot or 152.5m long stations, which can accomodate a 9 car train. Unfortunatly, the first 2 SkyTrain lines only have 80m stations, which are just barely over half the length of the longest STM stations. https://www.stm.info/en/info/networks/metro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societe_de_transport_de_Montreal#Connections_to_other_transit_services
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro#Rolling_stock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MR-63#Design While a 3 car joke of a train was possible, a 6 & especially a 9 car train is able to efficiently move more people around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MR-73
3 cars per trainset, operating as 6- or 9-car trains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MR-73#Construction_and_entry_into_service
Apparently, in order to reduce construction costs, the first 2 SkyTrain lines have stations that are only 250 feet. Half the length of a 500 foot long Montreal train, but BC usually takes the half-assed option with its small-scale of infrastructure development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)#UTDC_ICTS_Mark_I_fleet "The maximum based on current station platform lengths is a six-car configuration, totalling 76.2 metres (250 ft)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10 (9 articulated cars per train)
| Train length | 152.43 m (500 ft 1+1⁄8 in) |
|---|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10#History Approximately, a 500 foot train divided by 9 cars = 55.55 feet, or just under 17m.
Despite the SkyTrain cars not running on rubber tires, each 55 ft. coach is very close in length to the 55.6 ft Montreal Metro coaches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovia_Metro#Vehicle "The second generation Innovia ART 200 cars are 16.7 metres (54 ft 9
+1⁄2 in) long each and come in articulated pairs."
While the Mark 5 cars are about 55 feet, the C Line cars are almost 66 feet. Of course just like the first 2 lines, the C Line was also designed to not have 10 car stations, not even 5 car long stations. Since there was a real push to reduce construction costs, the stations only have a clearance to eventually accomodate a 2.5 car train.
Thus, as a a further step backwards, the 3rd line had to even be much shorter than the 152.5m Montreal Metro stations. Despite being another cost-cutting measure, the C Line could have & should have had all of its stations designed with future level clearance to eventually be at least 3 times longer than the absurd 50m.
"The Hyundai Rotem cars are 3 metres (9 ft 10+1⁄8 in) in width and 20 metres (65 ft 7+3⁄8 in) in length..."
While the multi-billion dollar line wasn't designed to have 10 or even 5 car trains, this 2.5 car joke of a train must be corrected.
Selective_door_operation (SDO) can enable trains that are longer than the 50m C Line platforms. So instead of just two 20m cars or a 20+10+20m, three 20m cars could stop at the absurd 50m stations. While the design limitations make it almost impossible to extend the ridiculous 50m platforms, even a 5-10m extension can make a significant difference. A 3 car walkthrough train would only be 60m, but that would form the middle key section of a 5 car train with SDO. That could be done by having an extra 20m car at either end of a 60m train. In theory, the middle 3 coaches would have direct contact with the absurd 50m platforms.
SDO can allow a 100m train to use a 50m station. People going past more than a few stations would be advised to move to the very end cars of a 5 car train. Then work their way to the middle 3 cars to access their desired station.
Just because the first phase of the C Line was designed to only have a 2.5 car train, the stations should have already been long enough to accomodate a 5 car train. Then, with significant future capacity in mind, there still could have been enough level clearance built to ultimately have 10 car trains.
SDO could also be used on the first 2 SkyTrain lines. Once 5 car trains become common, then planning for 7 car trains could be possible with SDO. While the C Line just doesn't have much level clearance to go beyond a 50m station, the first 2 SkyTrain lines could potentially have longer platforms to accomodate a 7 car train. Then with SDO, a 9 car train could be possible.
Of course the whole SkyTrain system should have been designed to have 8-10 car long stations, right from the start. Fortunately, anything like the backwards BC planning mentality never reached & prevented the Edmonton LRT from having longer strations. Especially, Toronto & Montreal & even Seattle, SF & LA.
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