Evergreen SkyTrain extension delayed to 2017

The opening of the Evergreen Line SkyTrain extension to Coquitlam has been delayed again, this time to early 2017.

The Evergreen Line was originally scheduled to begin ferrying passengers in the summer of 2016.

Tunnel boring has now been completed for the project, the B.C. government announced Friday, and tunnel interior work and systems installations will continue into next summer.

Simi Sara made a decision to find out if it’s normal for large projects like the Evergreen Line to have delays and cost overruns. She spoke with expert Robin Lindsey, who is the CN Chair in Transportation and International Logistics and Professor of Operations and Logistics Division at UBC.

Train testing begins in fall of 2016, but the line is not expected to be fully operational until early the next year.

The focus of this morning’s press conference was the tunnelling completion, however, with workers cheering as “Alice”, the tunnel boring machine, broke through concrete, completing the 2 km tunnel from just off Barnet Highway in Port Moody to Coquitlam.

Most of the stations for the new line are nearly complete. Residents in Coquitlam and Port Moody are now that much closer to having a direct rapid transit route to Vancouver.

Despite the delay, the government said the $1.4 billion project is chugging along and is now more than three-quarters complete. “This is a great example of all levels of government coming together to invest in transportation infrastructure to support and shape growth in the region”.

The Evergreen Line will run from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby and have stations in Coquitlam and Port Moody, the last being next to Lafarge Lake in Coquitlam. TransLink is contributing the remaining $400 million and will operate the system when it opens.