Broadway Subway Project (Millennium Line Extension)

Alignment

The Broadway Subway extends the SkyTrain Millennium Line 5.7 km west from its current terminus at VCC–Clark to a new terminus at Arbutus Street and West Broadway. About 700 m of elevated guideway carries the line west from VCC–Clark to a tunnel portal near Great Northern Way, and the remaining ~5 km runs in twin bored tunnels under the Broadway corridor. There are six new underground stations: Great Northern Way–Emily Carr, Mount Pleasant, Broadway–City Hall (built to connect with the existing Canada Line station at Cambie Street), Oak–VGH, South Granville, and Arbutus, which is designed so that a later phase can continue rapid transit west to UBC.

Trains will run through from the existing Millennium Line, giving a one-seat ride of about 46 minutes from Lafarge Lake–Douglas in Coquitlam to Arbutus; VCC–Clark to Arbutus will take about 11 minutes. The Province of British Columbia funds and owns the project, and Transportation Investment Corporation (TI Corp), a provincial Crown corporation, delivers it. Broadway Subway Project Corporation, an Acciona–Ghella joint venture, holds the design-build-finance contract. TransLink will operate and maintain the line once it opens.

Updates

2026-09 — Track installation complete

Running rails, power rail, and linear induction motor reaction rail are now installed in both directions over the full 5.7 km. Remaining work includes utilities, station entrances and interiors, and rebuilding streets and sidewalks. West Broadway between Cambie and Alberta streets has been closed to vehicles since late July, with full reopening expected in January 2027. Opening remains planned for late 2027.

2026-07 — Project reported on schedule and within budget

TI Corp’s July 2026 status report says the project is tracking within its approved schedule and its C$2.954B budget, with fall 2027 service still the target. Spending to date had reached C$2.258B, including C$753.5M recovered from the federal government and the City of Vancouver’s C$100.3M contribution.

2026-05 — Dynamic train testing begins

SkyTrain vehicles 013 and 014, outfitted for testing, began running on the extension, the first trains to operate on it. The first phase covers about 2 km of track, starting with driver-operated trains before moving to automatic train control, and testing will proceed westward from VCC–Clark through 2027. The province listed funding of C$1.957B from B.C., C$896.9M from Canada, and a C$100.3M in-kind contribution from the City of Vancouver.

2024-12 — Budget rises to C$2.954B

The province’s Fall 2024 fiscal update raised the budget by C$127M (4.5%), from C$2.827B to C$2.954B. Reasons given included the longer construction timeline, early pandemic impacts, inflation, and delays in tunnel boring.

2024-05 — Tunnelling finishes; opening pushed to fall 2027

The two tunnel boring machines reached Arbutus on March 20 and April 26, 2024, completing the 5 km twin tunnels. The province moved opening from early 2026 to fall 2027. Reasons included slower-than-planned boring through variable soils, a months-long pause while crews excavated beneath the Canada Line at Broadway–City Hall, and longer-than-expected installation of the traffic decks over station sites.

2022-11 — Concrete strike delays opening into 2026

The Ministry of Transportation said a five-week concrete strike in June 2022 delayed the start of tunnel boring, moving completion from late 2025 to early 2026. It said the project remained within its budget of about C$2.8B.

2020-09 — Design-build-finance contract awarded

The province awarded a C$1.728B contract to design, build, and partially finance the line to Broadway Subway Project Corporation, a joint venture of Acciona and Ghella. The total project budget was C$2.83B, with construction starting in fall 2020 and service targeted for 2025.