2023: A Light Rail Line in Alberta’s Capital City is Opened with Plenty of Enthusiasm

November 4, 2023

A light rail line in Edmonton, the, capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, was officially opened. This route is called the Valley Line and it is part of Edmonton Light Rail Transit, which is widely known in that region as the LRT.

Unlike the other trains used elsewhere within the LRT, those serving the Valley Line are low-floor Bombardier Flexity trains. The inaugural segment of the Valley Line covers 8.1 miles (13.1 kilometers) between 102 Street tram stop in downtown Edmonton and Mills Woods tram stop in the eponymous residential area of the city.

Nishat Chowdhury, a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News, described the Saturday morning debut of the Valley Line. “The long-delayed transit line finally opened this weekend, nearly three years behind schedule, and hundreds of people woke up before dawn to catch the first ride,” according to Chowdhury. “The first trains rolled at 5:15 a.m. from the stops at Mill Woods and 102nd Street, downtown.”

Chowdhury further noted, “City officials, excited residents, and transit authorities gathered to witness the inaugural ride. As the ride started, passengers of all ages clapped, sang, and chanted to celebrate the occasion.”  These festive passengers included Joshua Stubbard, who showed up wearing a tuxedo and carrying a bottle of champagne.

Kiyoteru Lee, another enthusiastic passenger, rode his bicycle to the 102 Street tram stop at around four o’clock that morning to catch the Valley Line’s first train. He was pleasantly surprised to see a large crowd already assembled there.  “It was totally unexpected but very good to see that a lot of people are participating in this and care about the things in their own city.”

Another person interviewed by Chowdhury for her CBC News article was Ashley Salvador, a member of the Edmonton City Council. “Being able to have that direct connectivity into the heart of our city is so incredibly important,” asserted Salvador. “We want Edmontonians to be able to move around their city quickly, efficiently, safely in ways that work for them.” (The accompanying photo of passengers on a train bound for Mills Woods tram stop was taken shortly after the start of operations for the Valley Line.)

A total of 12 tram stops on the line began service on its opening day. The LRT also has two other lines, the Capital Line and the Metro Line. This light rail system, which is the seventh busiest in North America, encompasses 29 stations/stops and 23.2 miles (37.4 kilometers) altogether.

Photo Credit: Matthew Boonstra (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on Edmonton Light Rail Transit (the LRT), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_LRT

Additional information on the LRT’s Valley Line is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Line_(Edmonton)