In November 2024, TransLink issued a public call for creative and innovative proposals that repurpose SkyTrain’s original cars, now entering retirement.
The public transit authority sought proposals from interested community organizations, developers, municipal governments, and individuals who would be responsible for all costs associated with transporting and repurposing the Mark I cars.
The deadline to submit a proposal for the first batch of cars was in early December 2024.
Upon inquiry last week, TransLink told Daily Hive Urbanized that they received 11 proposals in the initial proposal intake in Fall 2024 for the Mark I fleet retirement.
The public transit authority is currently reviewing the proposals, and they will have more details to share in the coming months.
To date, only one proposal has been publicly shared by its proponents.
Last week, The Narrow Group, in partnership with Apartment Sage, announced that it submitted a proposal to repurpose some Mark I cars into temporary mobile artist studios.
Such mobile artist studios could potentially be moved to “underserved locations” across British Columbia.
SkyTrain Mark I cars. (Sage Apartment/The Narrow Group)
Existing condition:
Interior of a SkyTrain Mark I car. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Potential future condition:
Possible concept for converting Mark I SkyTrain cars into mobile artist studios. (Apartment Sage/The Narrow Group)
Possible concept for converting Mark I SkyTrain cars into mobile artist studios. (Apartment Sage/The Narrow Group)
Possible concept for converting Mark I SkyTrain cars into mobile artist studios. (Apartment Sage/The Narrow Group)
Possible concept for converting Mark I SkyTrain cars into mobile artist studios. (Apartment Sage/The Narrow Group)
“When I heard about the opportunity to repurpose the original SkyTrain cars, I knew that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Sage Brocklebank of Apartment Sage in a statement.
David Duprey of The Narrow Group added, “Expo 86 was a huge moment for British Columbia and turning these cars into pop-up artist spaces would keep the spirit of 86 alive across the province while inspiring generations to come.”
TransLink is retiring all 150 Mark I cars that operate on the Expo Line and Millennium Line. These cars were built in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Throughout 2025 and 2026, the Mark I cars will be completely retired and replaced by TransLink’s new generation fleet of 235 Mark V cars (47 five-car-long Mark V trains), including 125 Mark V cars (25 five-car-long Mark V trains) that will be specifically used to retire the Mark I cars. The first new five-car-long Mark V train is expected to enter service in early 2025, and as many as 12 five-car-long Mark V trains could be in service by the end of 2025.
As a strategy to reduce the number of Mark I cars sent to the scrapyard, more callouts for proposals to repurpose the aging trains will be made in the future as more cars enter retirement.
SkyTrain Mark I cars on the Expo Line. (Macklin Holloway/Shutterstock)
SkyTrain Mark I cars on the Expo Line. (Margarita Young/Shutterstock)
The Narrow Group is already known for its operations of 110,000 sq ft of artist studio space in Vancouver, currently used by over 350 artists, including the temporary artist studio uses for the former City Centre Motel in Vancouver, which will be redeveloped into a high-density mixed-use development.
It is stated that Apartment Sage brings technical expertise to this project, with its past experience in transforming and remodelling buildings set for demolition into safe temporary housing.
The interior layout of the Mark I cars would be modified to create functional workspaces and amenities for artists. Preliminary sketches show the potential of removing some of the seating for artist working spaces and other flexible spaces.
The partnership also suggested that these Mark I cars could become centrepieces of permanent cultural spaces or temporary pop-ups in areas seeing redevelopment.
Last week, Daily Hive Urbanized published an in-depth profile of how Hong Kong creatively repurposed aging MTR subway trains into a permanent community hub and centrepiece for a highly prominent new central waterfront space, with this installation turning out to be an immense success following its first full year of operations.