Burrard station

Burrard is an underground station on the Expo Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located in Downtown Vancouver on Burrard Street, where Melville and Dunsmuir Streets meet, and is the western terminus of the R5 Hastings St that provides service to Simon Fraser University.

Burrard
SkyTrain station
Street level entrance on Burrard Street
Location	635 Burrard Street, Vancouver
Coordinates	49.285616°N 123.120157°W
Owned by	TransLink
Platforms	Split platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	R5 Hastings St
Construction
Structure type	Subway
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Architect	Architektengruppe U-Bahn
Other information
Station code	BU
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	December 11, 1985
Passengers
2019[1]	7,605,000  3.7%
Rank	4 of 53
Services
Preceding station   TransLink   Following station Waterfront Terminus Expo Line Granville toward King George or Production Way–University

Ground floor concourse

A train arriving at Burrard's outbound platform

Platform 1, inbound to Waterfront station

The station serves Vancouver's financial district and is within walking distance of the Coal Harbour and West End neighbourhoods. The station is accessible via the surface from Art Phillips Park or via the underground shopping centres of the Royal Centre and Bentall Centre skyscraper complexes.

History

Burrard station opened in 1985 and is named for nearby Burrard Street, which in turn is named for Sir Harry Burrard-Neale.[2] Prior to the opening of the Canada Line in 2009, Burrard station was the northern terminus of the 98 B-Line and was served by a number of bus routes that provided service to Vancouver's southern suburbs of Delta, Richmond, Surrey, and White Rock. In 2016, bus service to the eastern suburbs of the Tri-Cities was discontinued when the Millennium Line's Evergreen Extension opened.

Structure and design

The structure housing the surface station entrance was designed to resemble Victorian-era British railway stations, with a peaked glass roof. The station was designed by the Austrian architecture firm Architektengruppe U-Bahn.[3][4]

When originally opened, the station's only underground passage was to the Bentall Centre skyscraper complex. A connection to the Royal Centre complex was constructed some years later, while an anticipated underground passage to the Park Place skyscraper across the street was never built. The construction of a new east entrance to the station, at the southeast corner of the intersection of Burrard and Dunsmuir, was considered as part of upgrades to the station included in TransLink's 10-Year Vision, but the cost of such an addition was higher than expected and TransLink turned to reviewing options to improve the existing entrance.[5]

Like Granville, the station was built inside the Dunsmuir Tunnel and has a distinctive platform design. The inbound track (to Waterfront) is stacked on top of the outbound track (to King George and Production Way–University), with the inbound platform being one level above the outbound platform.

Services

Burrard station is one of four SkyTrain stations on the Expo Line that serve Downtown Vancouver. It has connections with many TransLink bus routes in Metro Vancouver; these buses serve the city of Vancouver, Burnaby, the city and district of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver.

Station information

Station layout

S	Street level	Burrard entrances and elevator access Compass vending machines, fare gates (elevator access)
C	Concourse	Connection to Royal Centre and Bentall Centre Compass vending machines
		Gap between levels
T1	Lower Concourse	Compass vending machines, fare gates (Burrard)
	Platform 1 Inbound	← ■ Expo Line towards Waterfront (Terminus)
	Side platform; doors will open on the left
T2	Platform 2 Outbound	■ Expo Line towards King George and Production Way–University (Granville) →
	Side platform; doors will open on the right

Entrances

• Burrard Street entrance: the main entrance for Burrard station, with connections to Royal Centre and Bentall Centre at concourse level. Three escalators are available between platform and concourse level, and 1 up-escalator between concourse and street level. Fare gates are located at inbound platform level for this entrance.
• Burrard Street elevator access : separated from the main entrance at street level and located to the north, closer to the Burrard and Dunsmuir intersection. A small station house accommodates fare gates at street level. At platform level, the access to the elevator is behind a narrow door and a short corridor.[6]

Transit connections

Burrard station provides an on-street transit exchange on Burrard, Dunsmuir, and Thurlow Streets. Bus bay assignments are as follows:[7]

Bay	Location	Routes
1	Burrard Street Southbound	2 Macdonald 5 Robson 32 Dunbar (PM peak hours only) N22 Macdonald
2	Dunsmuir Street Westbound	209 Upper Lynn Valley 210 Upper Lynn Valley 211 Seymour 214 Blueridge (PM peak hours only)
3	Dunsmuir Street Westbound	Spare
4	Thurlow Street Northbound	2 Macdonald 22 Knight
5	Burrard Street Southbound	44 UBC
6	Burrard Street Northbound	5 Downtown
7	Burrard Street Northbound	R5 Hastings St to SFU
8	Burrard Street Northbound	To Downtown: 2, 5, 32, 44

References

1. "2019 Transit Service Performance Review – SkyTrain Stations Ranked by Annual Boardings" (PDF). translink.ca. TransLink. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
2. Snyders, Tom; Jennifer O'Rourke (2002). Namely Vancouver: A Hidden History of Vancouver Place Names. Arsenal Pulp Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-55152-077-3.
3. Pabillano, Jhenifer (February 21, 2011). "1982 SkyTrain station concept drawings!". The Buzzer Blog. TransLink. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
4. "U-Bahn Vancouver". Architektengruppe U-Bahn. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
5. Chan, Kenneth (March 19, 2019). "Relief is coming: First new Canada Line trains to arrive this summer". Daily Hive. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
6. "Expo Line Station Review". Translink. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
7. "Burrard Station" (PDF). TransLink. January 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020.