Current funding woes likely won’t affect the development of a new SkyTrain control centre in Burnaby, according to TransLink.
The regional transit authority brought an application to Burnaby City Hall for a zoning amendment for the property at 6700 Southridge Dr., in the Edmonds area, to accommodate a data centre.
Staff noted in a report to council that the intended use of the proposed four-storey building is a SkyTrain control centre.
The location is currently occupied by an industrial and office building that had been used by Quebec aerospace and train manufacturer Bombardier to build SkyTrain cars. TransLink has since bought the property from Bombardier and submitted a preliminary application for rezoning last September, according to city staff.
TransLink confirmed the site as the preferred option for SkyTrain control centre in a March 2019 board meeting, pegging the price tag at $110 million. TransLink confirmed that figure is still the most recent cost estimate.
TransLink has struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, going as far as to say the transit system would be “unrecognizable” after the pandemic if it didn’t get help from the provincial or federal governments. Those financial woes have since abated somewhat with assistance coming from the province.
TransLink spokesperson Lida Paslar told the NOW the project is still slated to go ahead. Its funding is split roughly in half, with some coming from the Canada Infrastructure Program and the rest coming from TransLink’s capital project budget.
Paslar said the project won’t be replacing the current control centre. Instead, it will complement the current centre due to the “expanding SkyTrain network and to accommodate future growth.”
“We need an additional operations and control centre facility to support the fleet increases, manage additional maintenance, and storage yards,” Paslar said.
The project is expected to be completed in 2024, as TransLink begins testing the Broadway subway and Langley SkyTrain, Paslar said.
According to the city staff report, TransLink has suggested it will be able to fit 155 parking spaces of the required 183. Typically, this would mean resorting to a cash-in-lieu option, which would add up to $280,000.
But with little on-street parking available in the area, SkyTrain has offered, instead, to provide transit passes, bike storage and “end-of-trip facilities” for staff, equivalent in cost to the cash-in-lieu amount.
