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A fleet of SkyTrain cars ordered for the new Evergreen Line will be pressed into service even before the $1.4-billion line opens next year, as TransLink looks to ease rush-hour crowding on the Expo and Millennium lines.

The change will increase the average capacity of each train on the system by 100 passengers.

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Vivienne King, president of TransLink Subsidiary B.C. Rapid Transit Co., said seven of the new Mark III trains will be added to SkyTrain as soon as they have been tested. That will likely be this summer.

Most of the increase is because adding the new trains will free up some of the Mark II cars to be added to the old four-car Mark I trains to make up more six-car trains. That will boost the capacity of the older trains to 500 passengers from about 320 passengers.

“As soon as they’re available and released for service we will look at doing that,” King told The Vancouver Sun editorial board Wednesday. “You need to put your resources where they’re going to get the best bang for the buck.”