Rundle latest C-Train station to get 4-car revamp

Construction has started on another C-Train station as Calgary Transit continues preparations for a four-car train service.

Construction started this week on the platform at Rundle Station, which is one of 14 LRT stations that will undergo construction during the next two years.

"We typically do put more lighting, shelters, benches, more garbage containers, things like that so to enhance the look of the station as well as facilitate having furniture along the entire length of the platform for four-car operations," explained senior transit planner David Cooper.

But unlike Chinook Station, which has been closed for eight months so it can be replaced by a new structure, Rundle will stay open as the platform is extended.

Cooper says they can't do this work at any more stations right now because they want to minimize train disruptions.     

"One of the challenges that we have is we like to keep the stations open and as operational as we can," Cooper says. "We want to minimize the disruption that this project has at times for station closures."

Even if the stations are renovated over the next two years, longer trains won't be rolling through any time soon.

Cooper says the city has yet to place its order for 50 more LRT cars, so four-car trains won’t be on the tracks for at least another two to three years.