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The Expo SkyTrain line attracted more than 160,000 passengers daily in 2003. It's expected to carry more than 210,000 daily in 2010 - the year when 41 additional SkyTrain cars arrive and the first full year of revenue service from the brand new Canada Line and Evergreen Line . HISTORY ICTS demonstration project Initially what is now known as the SkyTrain was as a demonstration project. The ICTS demonstration was built using the Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) technology originally developed by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (now part of Bombardier ). Construction began in 1981 and was completed in early 1983. The demonstration project consisted of just one station and about one kilometer of guideway. This original station was not "named" during this time since there was only one station but it is now named Main St-Science World. This is the reason Main St Science World was designed very differently than other stations on the Expo Line since it was a showcase station. For example glass was used which the other future stations on the Expo line lack with the exception of Stadium since it was tied to the Expo grounds. However the 3-4 years it predesseced all the other stations makes it is visibly older and signs of rust and wear are showing. The guideway for the showcase line was a straight section east of the station running over Terminal Avenue. It ended across from where the Brussels Chocolate Factory is located on Terminal. There was no guideway west of the station as the track ended immediately at the west end of the platform where the Vancity head office now stands. The ICTS guideway was built differently than the rest of the Expo Line. The columns were different especially with how they are joined with the guideway. The walkway between the two tracks is also of a different but also inferior design from the Expo Line and it is not as aesthetic and seems to be showing signs of rust that excused by the older age of the guideway. The ICTS guideway was retrofitted during the construction of the Millenium Line in order to accommodate the heavier weight MK II cars. This was done by adding additional steel reinforced concrete beams to the columns were they support the guideway. These are clearly visible when driving or walking on Terminal Avenue under the guideway. Original revenue segment The Expo Line was built in the mid 1980s and is named for Expo 86 , the world's fair that Vancouver hosted in 1986. SkyTrain began providing free weekend service in late 1985 from Waterfront in downtown Vancouver to New Westminster Station, a few months before Expo 86 opened. Full service began on 3 January 1986 . During Expo 86, special shuttle trains ran from a third track at Stadium-Chinatown Station (where there was a connection to the Monorail serving the main site of the world's fair) to the Canadian pavilion at Waterfront Station. First extension In 1989, the line was extended to Columbia Station , then in 1990 to Scott Road in Surrey , crossing the Fraser River via the purpose-built, cable-stayed " Skybridge ." Second extension Finally, in 1994, the line was extended deeper into Surrey to its current terminus at King George Station . These three newest Surrey stations have a drastically different look from the other stations on the Expo Line that predate them. ROUTE DESCRIPTION The Expo Line travels underground from Waterfront to Stadium Stations, mainly through the Dunsmuir Tunnel , a tunnel previously used by the Canadian Pacific Railway to connect its mainline tracks along Burrard Inlet to its former yard on False Creek . From Stadium to New Westminster, the line is elevated, except for short at-grade sections between Nanaimo and Joyce Stations in east Vancouver and around the SkyTrain yards at Edmonds Station in Burnaby . The line travels underground for a short stretch between New Westminster and Columbia . Just east of Columbia Station is a junction with the newer Millennium Line . The line then crosses the Fraser River to Surrey via the Skybridge and is elevated for the rest of its run to its terminus at King George . From just west of Nanaimo Station all the way to New Westminster Station , the Expo Line follows BC Electric 's former Central Park Line, which carried interurbans between Vancouver and New Westminster from 1890 to the early 1950s. LIST OF STATIONS From Waterfront to Columbia Stations, Expo and Millennium Line trains stop at the same stations.
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