SkyTrain has 79.6 km (49.5 mi) of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks running on underground and elevated guideways, allowing SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability.
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Our three automated rapid transit SkyTrain lines take you all around Metro Vancouver: Expo Line connects Downtown Vancouver with the cities of Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey. Millennium Line takes you from East Vancouver through to Burnaby and into Port Moody and Coquitlam.
Propulsion uses two Linear Induction Motors—straight line versions of the conventional AC rotary electric motor. The motors react with an aluminium-capped steel rail on the guideway to provide motive power. SkyTrain was the first major application of LIM technology to mass transit systems.
One of the most recognizable parts of Vancouver, seen all over the city and metro area, is the SkyTrain. Built-in the mid-80s and unveiled for Expo 86, originally, it was the world's longest automated (that is, driverless) rail transit system for decades, and it's still one of the longest.
There are permanent magnets in both the rail and the arm that surrounds the train, causing the arm and the train to repel each other and suspend the train.
Extending the Millennium Line SkyTrain to UBC will contribute to a growing transit network that meets the needs of the entire region, reducing congestion, moving people more quickly and safely between their homes and places of work, and minimizing our impact on the environment.
All train movements are controlled from the Operations and Maintenance Centre at Burnaby. The unmanned trains operate under an automatic, computerized train-control SELTRAC system supplied by SEL. This system was originally developed in Germany for both rapid-transit and trunk railway systems.
Even if the power goes out, levitation forces keeps the train in the air while it is traveling at high speed. The vehicle comes safely to a stop rather than suddenly falling onto the track.
Maglev trains require very straight and level tracks to maintain high speeds. This necessitates extensive viaducts and tunneling, making construction costly.
relying purely on magnetic forcesHowever, this new 'Sky Train' system takes electricity out of the equation, using only magnets composed of rare-earth metals that 'create a constant repelling force [which] can lift a train with 88 passengers and keep it floating even without power,' states South China Morning Post.
Commuters in Metro Vancouver can now use their contactless debit cards to pay for a bus or SkyTrain trip, TransLink says. The transit authority said in a statement that any debit cards with Interac capability can now be used to tap in and out at SkyTrain fare gates or buses.
SkyTrain uses the world's third-longest cable-supported transit-only bridge, known as SkyBridge, to cross the Fraser River. With the opening of the Evergreen Extension on December 2, 2016, SkyTrain became the longest rapid transit system in Canada and the longest fully automated driverless system in the world.