The BC Ministry of Transportation has released a list of interim station names for SkyTrain’s 5.7-km-long Millennium Line Broadway Extension.

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While the rough station locations — situated within a block of key intersections — have long been publicized, this is the first time real names generated from the advanced detailed project development phase have been provided.

And it comes ahead of the opening of a project office and the start of an extensive public consultation phase on the design of the new subway.

In an email, the Ministry told Daily Hive the names are not considered final, but they were chosen for their legibility from a wayfinding perspective.

These names also seemingly adopt TransLink’s naming practices for the stations on the Canada Line and Millennium Line Evergreen Extension, which are based on cross streets and/or area attractions, landmarks, and points of interest.

The subway station at the intersection of Great Northern Way and Thornton Street is currently named Great Northern Way Station.

Moving west along the new subway route, the station at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway is Mount Pleasant Station, which clearly differentiates this station from Main Street-Science World Station.

As an integrated expansion of Broadway-City Hall Station, the new Millennium Line platforms at this location will create a new regional interchange hub with the Canada Line, and as a result the name of the station is not expected to change.

Fairview-VGH Station is the name of the station located within the vicinity of the intersection of Oak Street and Broadway. The station name takes on the neighbourhood name and its immediate adjacency to the medical precinct anchored by Vancouver General Hospital as identity markers.

Serving the intersection of Granville Street and Broadway, South Granville Station sets this station apart from Granville Station in downtown.

At the new western terminus of the Millennium Line at the intersection of Arbutus Street and Broadway, the station is simply known as Arbutus Station.

Old map:

New June 2019 map:

Both the Canada Line and Evergreen Extension were also provided with interim station names during similar stages of planning work.

Most of the Canada Line station names saw changes in the finalized edition of the names, while the opposite can be said for the Evergreen Extension names, which were based on the final naming practices and standards created for the Canada Line.

Here are maps that compare the initial proposed names and the final chosen names:

Canada Line

Interim Canada Line station names during project planning:

Final Canada Line station names:

Millennium Line Evergreen Extension

Interim Evergreen Extension station names during project planning:

Final Evergreen Extension station names:

Last week, the provincial government released a shortlist of three private sector teams that have been invited to submit detailed bids to design and build the $2.83-billion SkyTrain extension project.

A contractor is expected to be selected by the middle of 2020, allowing for construction to begin by the end of 2020 for a completion and opening in 2025.

Travel times are expected to be about 11 minutes on the new section of track between Arbutus Street and VCC-Clark Station — at least half the time of the existing 99 B-Line on the route between Commercial Drive and Arbutus Station when it is operating in optimal conditions.

A one-train ride from Arbutus Street to Lafarge Lake-Douglas Station will be roughly 47 minutes.

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