Stanley Park Train to remain off the rails for Easter and spring

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 17, 2025 7:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The fashionable Stanley Park Train thrust volition stay disconnected the rails done the Easter and outpouring seasons successful Vancouver's biggest park, arsenic officials accidental the semipermanent aboriginal of the attraction is up successful the air.

A well-liked attraction, the bid has seen precise precocious request successful the past, aft it returned successful 2023 pursuing a two-year hiatus. Around 23,000 tickets were snapped up wrong 90 minutes of merchantability for the Bright Nights lawsuit that year.

However, connected Dec. 13 past year, the attraction was derailed indefinitely after one of the train's drivers needed aesculapian attention, having fallen sick owed to exhaust from 1 of the train's locomotives.

A parkland committee authoritative says that emanation levels connected the bid were inactive higher than they wanted them to beryllium aft unit made modifications to the aging locomotives implicit the past 2 months.

"The anticipation determination was that [modifications] would trim emissions vulnerability to our unit arsenic good arsenic the public," said Steve Jackson, wide manager of the city's parkland board. "Unfortunately, owed to our astir caller testing, it isn't showing that that modification was successful."

The parkland committee says that the combustion engines connected the locomotives are much than 50 years old, and the latest closure puts the semipermanent viability of the attraction into question.

"Our champion people of enactment successful operating a bid connected this tract would beryllium to electrify," Jackson said.

"Our assets are old; our attempts to repair, modify, person proven to not beryllium successful, and truthful we'll person to research these longer-term decisions with our board."

Park committee unit is expected to study backmost to the elected committee successful June aft a broad investigation of the paths forward.

$3M mislaid implicit 5 years

The Stanley Park bid thrust has taken a winding way to its latest indefinite closure aft the December shutdown due to unit illness.

It was archetypal cancelled successful 2020 owed to the COVID-19 pandemic and carnal distancing restrictions being implemented.

Then, successful 2021, a rash of coyote attacks in Stanley Park prompted the train's cancellation in October due to information concerns, but it ran aboriginal successful December.

In 2022, the attraction was called disconnected aft the train failed a information inspection, with the metropolis saying that mechanical issues were affecting the antique engines and rider cars, and supply concatenation issues meant caller parts were hard to procure.

"Over the past 5 years, we've mislaid astir $3 cardinal trying to run this train," Jackson said. "That does see one-time expenditures to repair the train."

The authoritative says that the biggest occupation with the existent acceptable of 4 locomotives is that the gauge of the way is narrower than modern way gauges.

"The shaper that produced these engines really does nutrient an electrical locomotive. It's connected a 24-inch gauge," helium said. "We are moving a 20-inch gauge.

"So successful bid to usage their assets, we would really person to wholesale regenerate the full plus here, way and engines."

Jackson said that unit would yet look to the nationalist to measurement successful connected the aboriginal of the ride, and praised the overwhelming effect it had gotten successful erstwhile years.