VANCOUVER—Extending the SkyTrain from Surrey to Langley would cost $3.12 billion, TransLink announced Friday, and despite the hefty price tag, the transit authority’s CEO says it’s a “good project.”

The 16-kilometre Expo Line extension would run from the King George Station in Surrey, B.C., along the Fraser Highway to Langley City Centre. Today, it takes almost 50 minutes to travel the route by transit. The SkyTrain would cut that time to 22 minutes.

One vocal opponent, however, warned the SkyTrain extension could go down as a major financial boondoggle.

TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond endorsed the project Friday ahead of a meeting next week, where the transit authority will ask the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation for approval to develop a full business case for the proposed SkyTrain extension.

“I think the mayors’ council will see this as a good project,” Desmond told media at the transit authority’s headquarters in New Westminster.

“Without a doubt we recognize at TransLink, our mayors recognize that we need to improve transit in this portion of our region,” he said.

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The population of Surrey, the City of Langley, and the Township of Langley is expected to grow by 280,000 people by 2035, he said.

Planning work for the SkyTrain extension began late last year following a request from the City of Surrey to suspend a proposed light rail project, that would have connected Surrey Central with Guilford and Newton. The request was supported by the mayors’ council, which directed TransLink to start planning the proposed Surrey Langley SkyTrain project in December 2018.

As a result, TransLink is also working to refresh the South of Fraser Rapid Transit Strategy, which aims to build 27 km of rapid transit in the Surrey-Langley area over the next decade. Initially, the assumed cost for that 27-km LRT project along three major corridors was $3.55 billion — the proposed SkyTrain changes things.

To stay within the $3.55 billion budget and meet growing transit needs along the 104 Ave. and King George Blvd. corridors in Surrey, TransLink would likely have to increase bus capacity. Moving forward with LRT could cost an additional $1.8 billion.

The cost for extending the SkyTrain to Langley had previously been estimated at $2.9 billion.

That estimate jumped $220 million in the wake of detailed engineering work that uncovered more challenging soil conditions in the Serpentine Valley agricultural lands and utility conflicts along the proposed route, according to Jeff Busby, TransLink’s director of the Surrey Langley SkyTrain project.

Despite the higher price tag, the project as envisaged has a positive cost-benefit analysis, Busby said.

While the project has been championed by Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, critics say it’s overpriced.

Rick Green, a former Township of Langley mayor, said the project “doesn’t make any sense,” when there are cheaper options available.

Patrick Condon, an urban design professor at the University of British Columbia, agrees.

Condon and Green say they’d rather see TransLink move forward with the previous light-rail project that would have served Guilford and Newton and revitalize the existing interurban rail line to connect Surrey to Langley and other Fraser Valley communities including Abbotsford and Chilliwack with hydrogen powered trains.

Desmond said that’s “not on the table at this point in time.”

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According to TransLink, passenger service on the interurban rail line would have a high cost per ride and slower travel times.

But Desmond noted TransLink is in the midst of developing a 30-year plan and will look at the potential for using the region’s “heavy rail” lines for transit as part of that process.

In the meantime, Busby said TransLink is undertaking an environmental screening review that will consider the project’s impact on fresh water, vegetation, wildlife and heritage. The review will look in particular at the Green Timbers Urban Forest, one of Surrey’s largest parks.

The full Surrey to Langley SkyTrain route, which cuts through the park, would involve eight new stations, three bus exchanges, park-and-ride spaces, and 55 additional SkyTrain vehicles.

If the full extension is built, TransLink forecasts there would be 62,000 “daily boardings” by 2035, with trains running every four to five minutes at peak hours.

However, only about $1.6 billion, which was previously allotted to the light rail project, is currently available to fund the new SkyTrain.

Unless new funding is secured, that $1.6 billion would cover just 7 km of the proposed SkyTrain, from King George Station to 166 Street. Translink expects this portion of the route could be in-service five and half years after it is approved.

By 2035, estimates suggest it would have almost 40,000 daily boardings.

Extending the track another 3 km to 184 St. would increase the cost to $2.2 billion.

According to TransLink’s project website, the proposed SkyTrain extension still requires “business case” approval from both the province, the federal government, the mayors’ council and TransLink’s own board of directors.

In a statement, B.C. Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson noted the province already agreed to fund 40 per cent of the capital costs for the mayors’ council’s transit vision, which include new rapid transit in Surrey and is “committed” to working with the council to improve transit service.

Meanwhile, federal MP Randeep Sarai, who represents Surrey Centre, said in a statement that once he sees the proposal, “we will work with the Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister of Finance to see if we can meet any gaps.”

Similarly, MP John Aldag, who represent Cloverdale-Langley City, said he would continue to advocate for federal support to extend the SkyTrain to Langley City.

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