The Millennium Line is the second line in the SkyTrain rapid transit system in Greater Vancouver, Canada. The line is owned and operated by TransLink.

History

When the Expo Line opened in 1985, an extension to Lougheed Mall in east Burnaby was proposed. When the line was extended to Scott Road Station in Surrey in 1990, a spur track was built just east of Columbia Station in anticipation of such an extension. Finally in the late 1990s, the British Columbia government announced that an entirely new line would be built from Vancouver to Columbia Station via Lougheed Mall (served by Lougheed Town Centre Station), as the first part of a future line extending into Coquitlam.

The Millennium Line opened in 2002, with Lake City Way Station opening a year later in 2003. Millennium Line trains follow the Expo Line from Waterfront to Columbia, then loop back into Vancouver via a new route, terminating at Commercial Drive station, where there is a connection to Broadway Station on the Expo Line. (For a few months before full opening of the line, trains ran only as far as Braid Station in eastern New Westminster.) Construction is currently underway to extend the Millennium Line westward from Commercial Drive to VCC (Vancouver Community College) Station in Vancouver, with the extension due to open in May 2005.

Route description

The Millennium Line tracks pass through a tunnel for about 1 km east of Columbia Station, then are elevated above the CN/BNSF right-of-way through eastern New Westminster. The tracks run through Coquitlam, south of the Trans_Canada_Highway to Lougheed Town Centre. (There are currently no stations in Coquitlam) From Lougheed Town Centre, the line is elevated, running down the middle or along the side of Lougheed Highway to just west of Brentwood Town Centre, where it picks up the CN/BNSF right-of-way again, being elevated until Renfrew Station, then travelling through the Grandview Cut to Commercial Drive.

2005 Extension to Vancouver Community College

The tracks continue along the cut until the west side of Clark Drive where it is elevated for VCC station. The station is located at the foot of Glen Drive, just north of Great Northern Way. The extension is due to open in 2005.

List of stations

From Waterfront to Columbia Stations, Expo and Millennium Line trains stop at the same stations.

Paired with the Expo Line

• Waterfront (transfer to SeaBus, West Coast Express, and proposed RAV Line)
• Burrard
• Granville
• Stadium-Chinatown
• Main Street-Science World
• Broadway (transfer to Commercial Drive Station, also on the Millennium Line)
• Nanaimo
• 29th Avenue
• Joyce
• Patterson
• Metrotown
• Royal Oak
• Edmonds
• 22nd Street
• New Westminster
• Columbia (junction with the Expo Line to King George)

Millenium Line

• Columbia
• Sapperton
• Braid
• Lougheed Town Centre
• Production-University
• Lake City Way
• Sperling-Burnaby Lake
• Holdom
• Brentwood Town Centre
• Gilmore
• Rupert
• Renfrew
• Commercial Drive (transfer to Broadway Station on combined Expo/Millennium Lines)
• VCC (due to open in 2005)

Future extensions

Broadway Extension

An extension of the Millennium Line from Commercial Drive to VCC Stations is already under construction and is due to open in 2005. A long-term proposal exists to extend the line further west through the Mount Pleasant and Fairview neighbourhoods in Vancouver south of False Creek, serving the commercial and hospital area along central Broadway. The current terminus of this proposed route would be at either Arbutus, Burrard, or Granville Street.

Port Moody/Coquitlam (PMC Line)

In Coquitlam, an extension of the Millennium Line from Lougheed Town Centre Station to Coquitlam Town Centre was proposed when the original Millennium Line was built, and the necessary junction tracks already exist at Lougheed Town Centre Station. If the line is successfully extended, the Millennium Line will likely stop operating along the Waterfront-Columbia section of the Expo Line, with the Columbia-Lougheed Town Centre section becoming a branch of either the Expo or Millennium Line. Alternatively, the Coquitlam extension could become part of the Expo Line, with the Millennium Line terminating at Lougheed Town Centre.

Whatever the case, there is also talk that the "PMC" line would be a line named unto itself, much like the Expo Line, Millennium Line, and under-construction RAV Line.

External Links

• TransLink - The agency that owns and operates SkyTrain.
• Rapid Transit Project 2000 - The company responsible for building the Millennium Line
• Broadway/Lougheed Rapid Transit Line Phase II - Commercial Drive West (scroll to bottom of page)