The Existing C-Train System

As of 2008, the C-Train system consists of 37 stations offering passenger service along 44.9 kilometres of electrified double track between central Calgary and the city’s northeast, northwest, and south environs. Although the core of the system dates to three primary phases of construction between 1978 and 1987, a short system extension in 1990 and effectively uninterrupted construction through this century’s first decade have combined to increase both the reach and the passenger use of the C-Train in Calgary. Continuous increases in the number of active light rail vehicles have dictated a corresponding rise in investments to light rail vehicle storage and maintenance facilities to ensure a reasonable state of operational capability and good repair for the C-Train’s vehicle fleet.

Light rail transit service in Calgary was inaugurated on 25 May 1981 after three years of construction with the opening of Line 201 from Anderson Road to the city centre along Seventh Avenue SW. The southern terminus of the C-Train line was set at Anderson Station, north of Anderson Road and parallel to the Canadian Pacific Railway, with a substantial allocation of space for connecting Calgary Transit buses and for Park and Ride commuter automobile parking. Proceeding northward, the line follows the CPR right of way over roughly five kilometres to three virtually identical stations in architectural form and operational function — Southland Station, Heritage Station, and Chinook Station — with more modest yet still significant Park and Ride and bus transfer facilities for a base of primarily residential commuters. The line then continues for about two kilometres to an underpass at 42 Avenue SE, from which it diverges from the CPR corridor and surfaces at what is now 39 Avenue Station, consisting of two side platforms and offering passenger connections to Macleod Trail and to industrial-area buses. From there, the line parallels Burnsland Road SE before entering a 700-metre tunnel beneath Cemetery Hill and surfacing to a level crossing of 25 Avenue SE to enter what is currently Erlton/Stampede Station, separated from the southern entrance to Stampede Park by the banks of the Elbow River. An 800-metre right of way between Macleod Trail and the western boundary of Stampede Park leads to what is now Victoria Park/Stampede Station, with direct pedestrian connections to the Stampede Park grounds and facilities and to 17 Avenue. The line enters a tunnelled portal at 12 Avenue SE and surfaces at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Third Street SE, from which Line 201 of the C-Train finished its run downtown, serving westbound platforms at Olympic Plaza, First Street SW, Fourth Street SW, and Seventh Street SW, and serving eastbound platforms at City Hall, Centre Street, Third Street SW, Sixth Street SW, and Eighth Street SW. This initial stage of Line 201 of the C-Train system consisted of an overall length of 12.9 kilometres over seven southbound stations and nine downtown platforms, and at present serves a daily ridership of 86,100 passengers (Calgary Transit, 2008c).

Although it was Calgary Transit’s original stated intention to extend Line 201 to the city’s northwest, planning difficulties and political discontent led to the creation of Line 202 to the northeast, with revenue service commencing on 29 April 1985. Whitehorn Station, the original terminus of the line, was constructed in the median of 36 Street NE at the intersection of 39 Avenue NE. Two southward stations were also completed in the 36 Street NE median — Rundle Station, at the intersection of 25 Avenue NE, and Marlborough Station, at the intersection of 8 Avenue NE. The line then entered an underground portal to turn underneath the intersection of 36 Street and Memorial Drive NE before surfacing in the median of Memorial Drive to reach Franklin Station at the intersection of 27 Street SE. The two subsequent inbound Line 202 stations in the Memorial Drive median — Barlow/Max Bell Station, between Barlow Trail and 19 Street NE, and Zoo Station, at the northeast entrance to the Calgary Zoo — differed from their counterparts in that passengers debarked from the C-Train platforms through underground vestibules with tunnels beneath Memorial Drive to their transfer and pedestrian destinations, rather than to the elevated mezzanines and pedestrian bridges over roadways that are common to the other five original stations. Bridgeland/Memorial Station, in the Memorial Drive median adjacent to 9 Street NE, affords pedestrian connections to the Bow River Pathway System and to The Bridges, a transit-orientated development project on the former site of the Calgary General Hospital, and a flyover bridge across the Bow River connects Line 202 by way of Sixth Street SE to the Seventh Avenue transit corridor, with a new intermediate platform at Third Street SE and a new terminal platform at Tenth Street SW. This initial stage of Line 202 consisted of an overall length of 9.8 kilometres over seven northeast-bound stations and two additional downtown platforms, and at present serves a daily ridership of 58,900 passengers (Calgary Transit, 2008c).

Line 201 was eventually successfully extended to five stations in northwest Calgary in time for use during the XV Olympic Winter Games, with revenue service commencing on 7 September 1987. University Station, the original terminus of the northwest extension, is situated in the median of Crowchild Trail NW, between 24 Avenue and 32 Avenue NW. The line crossed through an underground portal at the intersection of Crowchild Trail and 24 Avenue NW to surface at Banff Trail Station, at the intersection of Banff Trail and 23 Avenue NW. Passing through a second underground portal underneath 16 Avenue NW, the line surfaced again at the intersection of 14 Avenue and 19 Street NW to meet Lions Park Station. From that point, the line followed 14 Avenue across 14 Street NW to arrive immediately adjacent to the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium at the “Southern Alberta Institute of Technology/Alberta College of Art and Design/Jubilee Station”, which for obvious reasons of brevity will be identified henceforth as Jubilee Station. The line crossed 10 Street NW on a flyover bridge and descended to surface level along 9A Street NW, where at Third Avenue NW it would stop at Sunnyside Station before rising on a bridge to cross Memorial Drive and the Bow River to a right of way paralleling Ninth Street SW that connected to the Seventh Avenue transit corridor. This extension of Line 201 consisted of an overall length of 5.6 kilometres over five northwest-bound stations and two additional downtown platforms, and at present serves a daily ridership of 80,400 passengers (Calgary Transit, 2008c).

The C-Train system was further expanded through a series of incremental extensions, the vast majority of which were to Line 201, and almost all of which came into revenue service after the year 2000 (Calgary Transit, 2008c). The first incremental extension to the system occurred on 31 August 1990, with a 1.0-kilometre line from University Station in the median of Crowchild Trail NW to Brentwood Station, between 32 Avenue and Brisebois Drive NW. Two further stations were added to the southern leg of Line 201 on 26 October 2001, when the line was extended by 3.4 kilometres through Fish Creek Provincial Park to serve Canyon Meadows Station, at the foot of 130 Avenue SW, and Fish Creek/Lacombe Station, adjacent to Shawnee Gate SW and Bannister Road SE. Line 201 would be extended once more to the northwest on 15 December 2003, with a 3.0-kilometre continuation in the median of Crowchild Trail NW to Dalhousie Station, just southeast of the intersection of 53 Street NW. On 28 June 2004, Line 201 would add two further southbound stations along a 3.0-kilometre extension to Shawnessy Station, at the foot of Shawmeadows Gate SW, and to Somerset/Bridlewood Station, located just north of Shawville Gate SW. Line 202 would see its first extension on 17 December 2007 with the completion of a 2.8-kilometre traverse of McKnight Boulevard NE to McKnight/Westwinds Station, sandwiched between Metis Trail and Westwinds Drive NE south of 64 Avenue NE. A further northwest extension of Line 201, consisting of 4.0 kilometres of track in the median of Crowchild Trail NW to Crowfoot Station, northwest of the Nose Hill Drive NW interchange, is presently under construction with revenue service expected to commence by the end of 2008.

The C-Train system operates a total of 152 light rail vehicles, storing and maintaining them at three yard facilities in various locations throughout Calgary (Calgary Transit, 2008c). The Siemens-Duewag U2, of which Calgary Transit currently keeps 80 in active service, was first employed in the C-Train system on its inauguration in 1981, while its operational successor, the Siemens Transportation Systems SD160, first came into service in Calgary in 2000, and presently contributes 72 vehicles to the overall C-Train fleet. The city’s light rail vehicles have been maintained, cleaned, and overhauled from the time of the C-Train system’s inception at Anderson Yard, a 19,000-square-metre facility accommodating 55 light rail vehicles. The Haysboro Storage Facility, opened in 1985, is a 3,500-square-metre carhouse that is used to store 60 light rail vehicles and perform basic light maintenance duties. Scheduled for completion by the end of 2009 is the Oliver Bowen Maintenance Facility, a 20,449-square-metre location allowing for the storage, heavy maintenance, and cleaning of 65 light rail vehicles, with a provision for further expansion to accommodate 108 vehicles in total (EllisDon Corporation, 2008).

Works Cited

Calgary Transit (2008c). “LRT Technical Data”. URL as of 25 Mar 2008 http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.html

EllisDon Corporation (2008). “Oliver Bowen LRT Maintenance Facility: EllisDon Project Profile”. URL as of 02 Apr 2008 http://www.ellisdon.com/ed/projects/view/?id=3088688