Greater Vancouver Metro



The Greater Vancouver Metropolitan Railway System, marketed as the Greater Vancouver Metro (GVM), is a light rail urban transit system managed by the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority (GVTA) and operating over six lines in the municipalites of Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, Port Moody, Coquitlam, and Surrey. Although managed by the GVTA, the infrastructure is owned by the British Columbia Hydro Railway (BCH), which also operates the system under contract to the GVTA.

History
Originating in 1890, by the 1920s the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) had built a railway network in the Lower Mainland on which it operated interurban passenger and freight trains, along with an extensive network of trams in Vancouver and South Vancouver, in New Westminster, and in North Vancouver. Although by 1958 the last of the tram lines were closed (other than those in North Vancouver, which run to the present day), the interurbans remained an important part of public transportation in Greater Vancouver into the 1970s.

Planning for what became today's Greater Vancouver Metro system began in the first half of the 1970s, envisioning the conversion of most of the BC Hydro Railway network north of the Fraser River into a dedicated light rail commuter transit system, with work to be done in several phases. Planning of the first two phases were begun at once, with the first foreseeing the conversion of the Lulu Island Line from downtown Vancouver to Steveston, Richmond and the Westminster–Eburne Line from Marpole, South Vancouver to New Westminster, and the second phase to see a similar conversion of the Central Park Line. Several design options were considered by a joint commission consisting of representatives of the Dominion government, the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority, and the BC Hydro Railway, with the most important consideration being that there were to be no road crossings over the new line.

The commission eventually settled on the same approach that BCH approach. What this meant is that for the first phase, as much of the existing rights-of-way of the original lines would be reused; consequently, the majority of both the new lines would be at ground level: 12.3 miles of the 17.1 miles of the Expo Line and 5.9 of the 10.4 miles of the first stage of Fraser River Line (Marpole–New Westminster) remained at grade level using the original rights of way. Fulfilling the requirement that there be no road crossings meant that over- or underpasses were built at most crossings; in a few cases, mostly on crossings with smaller streets, they were simply closed.

Plans for the construction of the Greater Vancouver Metro system were finalised in the autumn of 1978, and through 1979 necessary preparatory work was undertaken along the Lulu Island Line prior to the start of actual construction. Prior to the beginning of construction work on the Expo Line, freight operations on the Lulu Island Line was discontinued in February of 1980 with the trackage and operations on the south shore of False Creek and on Granville Island being transferred to the British Columbia Railway, which designated it the South False Creek Line. Passenger trains remained in operation until March before being replaced by a replacement bus service; this remained in operation until the line was opened to the public.

Work on rebuilding the existing right-of-way, boring a new tunnel for the section from the Canadian Pacific Railway station at Waterfront to the south side of False Creek, the construction of a new, high bridge to replace the existing swing span over the Fraser River, and of a new depot in Marpole, began at the end of April. South of the river, part of the line was built on an elevated guideway. Additionally, from Bridgeport Station - the first on the south side of the river - a branch was built to the Vancouver International Airport. This branch, named the Airport Line, followed the the right-of-way of a branch line that had served the former De Havilland, but was built entirely on an elevated guideway.

Even before work was completed on the Expo Line, construction of the Fraser River Line began in April 1984, from Marpole to New Westminster. The same construction methods were used, though only 4.5 miles of the new line were built on an elevated guideway, the rest used the existing right-of-way. Construction of the Expo and Airport Lines was completed in October 1985 and was opened to the public in November, a few months before the start of Expo 86, while the opening ceremony of the Fraser River Line, conducted by Prime Minister Grace McCarthy at New Westminster Station, took place on 4 April 1987.

Work on two extensions, one from Marine Drive-70th Avenue Station on the Expo Line to the University of British Columbia and one from New Westminster to Liverpool, envisioned as part of the first phase of GVM construction, began in late 1989. The short Liverpool extension with its high cable-stayed bridge across the Fraser River was opened in July 1991, whilst the much longer UBC extension, running underground for almost its entire length, was opened in August 1993. Trains of the Expo, Airport, and Fraser River Lines share the section between Marine Drive-70th Avenue and Marpole Stations.

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