Work on the Evergreen Line construction project is entering its final phase, with tunnel construction expected to be completed by the fall and opening scheduled in early 2017.
According to the Ministry of Transportation, tunnel interior work and systems installations will be taking place over the summer, followed by track testing.
“The Evergreen Line is about 85% compete,” said Trish Rorison, a spokesperson for the ministry, in an email. “Construction in the tunnel is ongoing, including track work.”
Last week, the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project office released a video of train testing along Pinetree Way in Coquitlam. The clip shows the train leave Coquitlam Station, continue through Lincoln Station (located in the northeast corner of the Coquitlam Centre mall parking lot), before stopping at the Lafarge Lake-Douglas Station terminus.
As expected, the tunnel has proven to be the most challenging part of the line’s construction, with the section mired in boring difficulties and sinkholes that were created as a result.
But the ministry said that the hardest parts are completed, with testing for the 1.2-km portion of the line on schedule to begin this fall. Train testing and commissioning between Lougheed Station and Burquitlam Station is complete while work between Port Moody and Coquitlam is expected to continue through the summer.
Station construction is mostly complete, said Rorison, while work on the station plazas is expected to continue into the fall.
@gmckennaTC
