Bob Alkire had to work today so Elizabeth and I left the house after a delicious breakfast and drove to the Edmonds Amtrak station. We parked the car in the Sounder parking lot and went inside to check in with the Amtrak station agent and he looked at my passport and train ticket and Elizabeth's Nexus card and train ticket. We sat in the waiting room for just about ten minutes, watching a gentleman take down the Christmas lights on the station then with eight minutes until train time, Elizabeth and I walked out and stood where we were told to. Soon the crossing gates went down and we saw the headlight approaching Edmonds.
Amtrak Cascades Train 510 arrived and the business class attendant assigned us our seats, 5 and 6, for our journey to Vancouver this morning.
Puget Sound was very calm on this early overcast morning.
At Everett we saw the United States Navy ships before our station stop there.
Turning to cross the Skagit River.
Travelling along the beautiful Puget Sound.
Chuckanut Bay.
Mount Baker.
The route map and car information board on new Talgo Series 8 train.
The beautiful Elizabeth in the business class car.
Entering Canada along Semiahmoo Bay.
The snow-capped mountains on Vancouver Island.
The Canadian Cascade Mountains.
Crossing the Fraser River. We stopped at Stillcreek and sat for the first fifteen minutes until our conductor announced that a Canadian National freight could not make the hill in front of us. Fifteen minutes later, he announced that the train was reversing down the hill and would split into two sections, so they could double the hill after we cleared. After another fifteen minutes, we started moving and the conductor apologized for this unique delay, then we continued down the hill toward the station.
Canadian National 9460 East was the offending train.
Westcoast Express bi-level commuter cars at the VIA Vancouver shops.
VIA F40PH 6458 at the VIA maintenance facility. We pulled in to the gated storage area and the gate was closed behind us by a security guard. Once the checked baggage was off the train, the business class passengers were first to go through Canadian Customs. We asked if we could photograph the front of the train and received permission.
The cab car of this new Talgo set, Mt. Bachelor. It will take me a while to get used to it.
The front of our train in the cage at Pacific Central Station. We both cleared Canadian Customs without a snag then walked over to the Main Street/Science World Skytrain station and I bought Elizabeth and I day passes. We tapped our passes to open the gate before going upstairs to the platform. Vancouver is no longer on the honour system.
TransLink SkyTrainSkyTrain is the metropolitan rail system of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. SkyTrain has 79.5 km 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. The name, SkyTrain, was coined for the system during Expo 86 because the first line {Expo} principally runs on elevated guideway outside of Downtown Vancouver, providing panoramic views of the metropolitan area. SkyTrain has the world's longest cable-supported transit-only bridge, known as SkyBridge, to cross the Fraser River in the suburbs. The opening of the Evergreen Extension made Skytrain the longest fully automated driverless system in the world.
SkyTrain has 53 stations on three lines: Expo, Millennium and Canada Lines. The Expo Line and Millennium Line are operated by British Columbia Rapid Transit Company under contract from TransLink {originally BC Transit}, a regional government transportation agency. The Canada Line is operated on the same principles by the private concessionaire ProTrans BC under contract to TransLink, and is an integrated part of the regional transport system. The Evergreen Extension, an extension to the Millennium Line, has been completed in the north east suburbs and began revenue service on December 2, 2016.
SkyTrain uses a fare system shared with other local transit services, and is policed by the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service. SkyTrain Attendants provide first aid, directions and customer service, inspect fares, monitor train faults, and operate the trains manually if necessary.
Evergreen ExtensionThe Evergreen Extension, formerly known as the Evergreen Line, is the second phase of the Millennium Line, extending from Lougheed Mall in Burnaby to the Douglas College campus in Coquitlam. Originally referred to as the Port Moody-Coquitlam Line, it provides a "one-seat ride" from Coquitlam to Vancouver. Switches to the PMC Line were installed to the east of Lougheed Town Centre Station during its initial construction and a third platform at the station was roughed-in in anticipation of the extension. Phase II was postponed following a change in provincial government and a shuffling of priorities that led to prioritizing building the Canada Line due to Vancouver's hosting of the 2010 Olympics. Preliminary construction of the Evergreen Extension began in July 2012 and major construction started in June 2013 with the construction of support columns for the line. The extension began revenue service on December 2, 2016.
The Skytrain map.
Our TripWe boarded the train and went one station east to Commercial Broadway.
The journey from basically VCC-Clark to Lougheed Town Centre. From here it was new miles for both of us to the end at Lafarge Lake-Douglas.
The junction of the Evergreen Extension and the Expo Line.
The journey from Lougheed Town Centre to Burquitlam.
The Burquitlam station.
Proceeding to the Evergreen Tunnel that takes the train underneath homes and descends to the valley where the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline is located.
Inside the Evergreen Tunnel.
Emerging from the tunnel back into daylight.
Canadian Pacific Railway's main line came into view.
Approaching Moody Centre station, the first connection to the Westcoast Express on weekdays only.
The concrete wall that blocked the view of the CPR.
The journey to Inlet Centre station.
Inlet Centre station.
We passed the maintenance facility for the Millennium Line.
The journey on the way to Coquitlam Central station, the last connecting point with Westcoast Express on weekdays only. We met Canadian Pacific Railway Rail 3026 West along the way.
The journey to Lincoln station.
Lincoln station.
The journey to the last station of Lafarge Lake-Douglas.
The train arrived at the end of the track at the Lafarge Lake-Douglas station.
The front of the Skytrain that brought us to the the terminus of the line, Art Mark II coach 236, built by Bombardier in 200. Having finished that new line, we had to return over it back to the Evergreen Tunnel to the transfer station at Lougheed Town Centre. There, we walked off one train right onto another, which took us on the Expo Line to Columbia. Here we did the "go down, over and up" to get to our next Expo Line train to King George, the terminus of that line. We repeated the "go down, over and up" to board the same train that had brought us here and rode the full length of the line to Waterfront station in downtown Vancouver. Once there, we reboarded the same train and took it back to Main Street/Science World station, where we detrained, went down the stairs and tapped our cards to escape Skytrain. It had been an excellent trip aboard the automated Skytrain.
As we had plenty of time before our Cascades train, we decided to have an early dinner inside the station at A&W where I had a hamburger and a mug of root beer. At 4:20 PM, we joined the Business Class line to go through preliminary United States Customs. My documents were checked and I passed with flying colours. Elizabeth had slightly more procedure to go through but nothing that had not happened in the past. Once we were cleared, we boarded Amtrak Cascades Train 517 in the gated area and were assigned seats at a table.
I had brought my laptop so we worked on the travelogue for some of the journey then the train departed Vancouver on time but was delayed before our favourite place this morning. We were briefly stopped again before New Westminster and then had a very short delay before Mud Bay. We made our way down to White Rock and were given instructions to stay in our seats, with the washrooms and bistro car being closed until after our United States Customs inspection. We crossed the border back into my homeland and stopped at Blaine, where three Customs officials started in the first Business Class car then entered ours. They quickly looked at each person's documents and collected our Customs forms. About five minutes later, the engineer whistled off and we proceeded down the rails to Bellingham.
We enjoyed the quiet ride down to Everett, followed by the final sprint, for us, to Edmonds. We detrained after a most enjoyable ride on the Cascades and the new Evergreen extension of Skytrain. From here, we drove to Alderwood Mall to pick up Bob and returned home for the night.
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