Canada Line train does trial run

The Canada Line rapid-transit system conducted a first official ride Wednesday amid a looming class action lawsuit by merchants along Vancouver's Cambie Street.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, transit officials and the press were on board the train for the test run from Richmond's Bridgeport Station to the Vancouver airport.

"The Canada Line will ensure reliable transportation for an estimated 100,000 riders every day by 2010 — and increasing to close to 125,000 per day by 2021," Campbell said after the four-minute ride.

Engineers and technicians have almost completed testing and commissioning of the trains on the Bridgeport Station to the airport station. They will then continue with the Richmond and south Vancouver sections of the line.

The $1.9-billion elevated rapid-transit system will run completely separate from traffic, between the Waterfront Centre on Burrard Inlet near downtown Vancouver to the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond. Upon completion in 2009, it will have 16 stations, two bridges, and approximately 19 kilometres of tunnel.

The construction, which began three years ago, has triggered waves of opposition from merchants who have businesses along the route.

Leonard Schein, who runs the Park Theatre on Cambie Street in Vancouver, said he has lost about $200,000 in the last year.

Schein said the Cambie Village Business Association filed a class action lawsuit on Monday at the B.C. Supreme Court. The group is now awaiting a response from the court to see if the lawsuit will be allowed to proceed.

He added that transit officials have told the Cambie merchants that the pavement on the street won't be put back completely until November 2009 when the Canada Line opens.

"It's really our last resort, a class action lawsuit. It's not something we really favour to do, but we have no choice," said Schein, the association's spokesman.

He said many shops along Cambie Street in south Vancouver closed because of the construction of the Canada Line.

Gary Gautam, owner of the Cambie General Store, said his business survived through the kindness of the neighbours.

"[The] landlord, he dropped the rent, and neighbours, they're nice … they are [still] coming. Otherwise, it would be very, very tough," Gautam said.

TransLink CEO Thomas Prendergast said Wednesday that officials understand that the Canada Line construction has impacted Cambie merchants.

"We need to deal with those, but we will deal with those through the process and to the degree possible. If we can avoid litigation, we'd love to do that," he said.