Greater Vancouver Metro

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. The first phase foresaw the conversion of the Arbutus Line from downtown Vancouver to Steveston, Richmond and the Fraser River Lines. 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.

with the commission eventually settling on

to the new on dedicated rights of way free of level crossings

As part of the realisation of the ambitious programme, freight service along the Fraser River Line was discontinued in 1983, and then in 1984, just prior to the commencement of work on bui

As part of the realisation of the commuter rail system, most freight operations within the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby were discontinued in the 1980s. The entirety of the former Vancouver & Lulu Island Railway, bought up by the BCER in 1905, saw freight service eliminated, first along the Arbutus Line in 1983 (the Granville Island and south False Creek freight operations were transferred to the BCR), then along the Fraser River Line in 1984, prior to conversion to a mass transit system similar to Calgary's C-Train system, eliminating all level crossings. The Expo Line, opened in 1985 in time for Expo 86, runs from CPR's station in downtown Vancouver (Waterfront-CPR Station) to Steveston, Richmond, with a branch serving the airport using the right-of-way that served the former De Havilland plant on Sea Island; the section in downtown Vancouver is underground from Yaletown-Drake to Waterfront. The Fraser River Line from New Westminster to Marpole, Vancouver was extended west to the University of British Columbia; the first section of this line was opened in 1987, the extension to UBC in 1993.