Open at Last: Edmonton's Valley Line South - Best Edmonton Mall

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Edmonton's Valley Line LRT has bee plagued with delays and setbacks, but on Nov 4, 2023 it finally opens its doors to the public! The cities newest light rail offering is a little different than what Edmontonians might be used to in their LRV experience, but it will connect Millwoods with Edmonton's Downtown in only 30 minutes!
Eventually this line will reach Edmonton's own: West Edmonton Mall!
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PO Box 42013 Millbourne
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[@ramrod3922]

Congratulations edmonton! It must feel great to have a line finally open. We here in Toronto are still waiting for our trusty eglinton crosstown to open

[@JamaicaLefferts]

When the Eglinton Crosstown line opens it will be a game changer in Canada

[@ramrod3922]

@@JamaicaLefferts has to open to be a game changer

[@maeganbyerley]

It's our second LRT line to open up. The first one opened some time in the 80s I do believe

[@mariachrzski18]

YES thank you for calling it a tram!!!! Because that is exactly what it is!

[@pbilk]

Yes! A tram. LRT is overused and too broad of a term.

[@anthonysnyder1152]

@@pbilk Tram is just as vague though. Tram is just the European term and LRV is what we call it in North America. If you have a good rebuttal though I’d like to hear it.

[@glaframb]

LRV is the acronym for Light Rail Vehicule it's a very generic term. LRT is the acronym for Light Rail Trains it's also a very generic term. It could be used for a Light Express Métro like the REM in Montréal to a 20 meters long Street Car/Tramway every where else. A Tram is a shorten version of Tramway. Also Tramway is also called in North America (USA/Canada) as a Streetcar. In China , they called a Optical guided articulated Buses as a Track Less Tramway. but the worst! it's in my own city of Laval, Qc, Canada. The Société de Transport de Laval (STL), the local transit company called a télé-cabine project i.e. A cabin suspended on one or more cable(s) in the air project as Aerial Tramway ?!?

[@CityLifeinAmerica]

@@anthonysnyder1152 ehh I beg to differ. For example Australia has trams and light rail. Trams are more like streetcars and light rails have their own right of way is how they differentiate it in Australia.

[@radagastwiz]

Greetings from Waterloo Region, where we've had basically the same train model for 4 years now. Cool to see a different colour scheme and travelling environment!

[@pbilk]

Yes. Exactly. The train model looks so similar. Can Edmonton's go faster?

[@rgchannel8398]

Thanks for updates

[@foxfury7838]

Its finally here im so happy that now i have another option to commute to downtown and back ,thank you edmonton, its worth the wait 🎉

[@natashatimmins7622]

Great video !!

[@TrickiVicBB71]

I am going to check it out tomorrow afternoon. I am rather happy. City finally has a East-West line

[@stickynorth]

Even though I still think the high-floor Frankfurt-U-bahn inspired Capital and Metro lines are more useful and cost effective, I do like this tramway and how it adds a nice bit of colorful urbanity to the otherwise bland Edmonton landscape. And even with the delays and relatively narrow feeling cars I am glad the Valley Line is here and I can't wait for it to be fully rolled out to West Edmonton Mall albeit 40+ years after it should have been... Planning for a West LRT (to run from University to WEM via a new 87th Avenue bridge across the North Sask) was started as early as the mid 1980's so to see trains FINALLY reach "The Mall" will be great. I also hope that this launches a rebirth of the Edmonton Radial Railway network that used to run down virtually every major road in Edmonton. At one point the system had 70+ km of lines in a city of 93,000 people... Very impressive! Imagine trams on 95th Avenue in Little Italy, down a revived 118th/Alberta Avenue and perhaps even Whyte Avenue again!

[@M_D93]

This has to happen 2 and a half months after I leave Edmonton. Congrats though.

[@citation9199]

The train really messes up the intersections it travels by for drivers. I have sat at a red light several times for 4 full traffic light cycles before being able to turn left. Its hugely annoying.

[@diegoalvarez3694]

Well the train accommodates 200+ people as opposed to 5 or so people in your car kinda makes sense it should have priority. Cars are the most inefficient mode of travel to move large amounts of people

[@patrickderegt2582]

me and a friend where going to get up and get first rides on it tomorrow and then i got a job in fort mcmurray so so much for that

[@coltsgotluck6518]

I heard nothing but issues yesterday. People complaining it took longer than the bus.

[@BestEdmontonMall]

Hiccups on the first day shouldn't be shocking. I'm sure it'll improve

[@ajd7772]

Finally. Now I can leave my house! I'm no longer a prisoner!!!!!!!!! ..... I don't like the look of those teenagers over there (goes back inside)

[@stickynorth]

That's literally how I feel as a 40-year-old Edmontonian/Millennial.. I spent most of my 20's and 30's wishing for better transit and now that I'm middle aged? Private car, please!

[@gearkidgames4283]

Can you do a video on the history of Capilano Mall?

[@hollye142]

Wooo Beatles!

[@Xcoming2]

Toronto take note...

[@pbilk]

Toronto can look closer at the Waterloo Region too. It seems that Toronto mostly needs to remove shared lanes for their streetcar unless its with buses.

[@stickynorth]

Same manufacturer, almost the same model. Toronto has a broader gauge and uses a different verison of the Alstom Flexity, but yeah I agree. It's very good looking. I hope they can get their Eglington line working soon as its facing the same issues as Edmonton did apparently... Same P3 program also didn't help either...

[@lissettemellado]

Can you comment on how loud this train is? I live in Westmount and worry about noise levels. Thanks!

[@BestEdmontonMall]

Train itself is pretty darn quiet. It's a tram style train so it's not all that loud

[@MrAlen6e]

They look like the Toronto trams interesting

[@stickynorth]

Same builder... Bombardier now called Alstom (merged with its weaker European rival that needed new life to compete against Siemens and CRRC) built in Canada at Kingston and Thunder Bay, Ontario! We should be proud to operate reliable made in Canada equipment! As the foreign built electric buses ETS went with have been crap and are now subject to a $60M lawsuit and bankruptcy of the busmaker... Meanwhile New Flyer XE60 electric articulated buses are being ordered left and right and being manufactured in Winnipeg at a rapid pace... Ironic since MOST of the ETS bus fleet is New Flyer... Just not the electric ones which were Proterra, aka poorly-American made...

[@trevwheeler8986]

How many years or moths was it behind schedule

[@BestEdmontonMall]

3 years or so!

[@coreymcdonald7745]

Just under 3…

[@jessebrook1688]

@@coreymcdonald7745 They really squeaked it in. 2 years and 10 months later than vaguely announced at the beginning, we have a train.

[@hollye142]

Do you think a Beatle ever been to the mall?

[@glaframb]

After the Ottawa O-Trains and Calgary C-Trains are we going to called them Edmonton E-Trains

[@stickynorth]

We should! The LRT seems so bland as a naming convention...

[@sabrinamiller3671]

Were you invited to be one of the first to ride it? Lucky?? Also, so this goes all the way to WEM? Is it officially open to the public?

[@ryantheavian6260]

The Valley Line will eventually reach West Edmonton Mall by 2027. The west section of the line is currently under construction, with most of the elevated guideway installed already.

[@sabrinamiller3671]

​@@ryantheavian6260Aw, that long? 😢

[@jessebrook1688]

@@sabrinamiller3671 Given how any project is subject to delays and such, I would wait until 2029 for that extension to be complete. The Valley Line is nice, though. I just hope more people use it over time. 10 minute headways aren't bad, and if you're heading to any of the three malls that it connects with, it's going to be useful. University connections will be much handier now for people in Mill Woods. Not perfect, but better.

[@JamaicaLefferts]

These are Toronto streetcars

[@stickynorth]

Same manufacturer Bombardier now Alstom but a slightly different model... TTC has a broader gauge but tighter radiuses and lower operating speeds. Edmonton uses the exact same train model as Kit-Wat's Ion Line... Amongst others... Flexity Freedom is the model Edmonton/Kit-Wat uses...

[@virnan]

Why cloth seats though?? They should be hard plastic.

[@stickynorth]

Bring back Vinyl! I love the old GM New Look buses that had those wickedly padded seats... Like old soft sofa cushions...

[@BaileySuttonMusic]

He says "no gates, bells or whistles" like its a good thing. Everyone be so careful out there when crossing the tracks! They made so immersed in their environment that they can be very easy to miss.

[@pbilk]

We just need to be alert like we should be every day but how we design things does matter to prevent injuries. Gates, bells and whistles are a little unnecessary in most situations for trams but they can have they place. The tram will probably still ring a bell at stops and intersections like that model does in the Region of Waterloo.

[@iandot]

If you aren’t paying attention while you’re driving, you shouldn’t be driving in the first place.

[@BaileySuttonMusic]

@@iandot I am not talking about driving, I am talking about walking. The tracks blend in with the cement so much that it's very easy to miss when you are on foot. I just don't want people to get hurt.

[@BaileySuttonMusic]

@@pbilk I was watching a video of a tram in France and at first I wondered why they made it such an unsightly colour/design. Until I realized it was so people would notice it. Even the crosswalks were painted in bright colours. I feel like they tried so hard to make our tram sleek and blend in with the environment, that its almost too easy to miss. Even a little red paint here and there I think would go a long way.

[@stickynorth]

Edmonton's newest IQ/Darwin test! I love it!

[@gounchface]

Will be unservicable in 2 years.

[@OliversElevators]

Congrats, Canada, on building another slow-ass "light rail" line. First it was Kitchener-Waterloo ION, now it's the Valley Line, next it'll be the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto. Seriously, who decided to set the speed limits so slow on this line? And could a less-curvy alignment have been built? This thing feels barely faster than a bus and it pales in comparison to the speed of the ETS Red and Blue lines. Shame.

[@jessebrook1688]

A less curvy alignment could have been built at double the cost, a la the Skytrain in BC, but I don't think anyone wanted to pay for that.

[@Bn-fd9kp]

Edmontonians no longer have to pay for building it, just having to pay for operating a losing business.

[@BestEdmontonMall]

Public transit isn't a business, it's a public service. We pay for roads and sidewalks too, and they take in far less money than transit.