Contractor selected to design and build new Surrey-Langley SkyTrain stations

A map of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension route is shown. (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure)

B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has selected the team it wants to design and build the eight new stations that will make up the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension.

The ministry announced Friday that it has selected South Fraser Station Partners as its "preferred proponent team" for the stations.

Two other groups are being hired for the design and construction of the elevated guideway and the systems and trackwork, respectively.

In total, the project is expected to cost just over $4 billion, according to the ministry.

South Fraser Station Partners is comprised of four companies – Aecon Constructors, Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc., Pomerleau BC Inc., and AECOM Canada Ltd.

As the province's preferred proponent team, the group will now enter contract negotiations with the government and begin early works on the project, "such as pre-construction site surveys, locating utilities, geotechnical drilling and station design work," the ministry said in its announcement.

North Shore wastewater connection

Notably, one of the companies that is part of South Fraser Station Partners – Acciona – has the same parent company as the contractor that Metro Vancouver dismissed from the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project in October 2021.

At the time, the regional district claimed that Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP had "abandoned" the project, a claim Acciona says is not true.

The two sides are currently suing each other in B.C. Supreme Court, with Acciona alleging that Metro Vancouver has refused to pay it more than $100 million for work it completed on the site, and that the regional district made more than 1,000 requests for project modifications that led directly to the project's ballooning cost.

For its part, Metro Vancouver says Acciona failed to meet project timelines and left it with "no choice" but to cancel the contract. Acciona blames the delays on Metro Vancouver's "flawed design" and "interference" with the project.

Originally budgeted at roughly $500 million and expected to be completed by 2020, the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project is now moving forward with a different contractor at a cost of $3.86 billion. The anticipated completion date is now sometime in 2030.

Other projects in progress

Subsidiaries of Acciona, which is based in Spain, are currently working on two other major infrastructure projects in Metro Vancouver: the Broadway Subway project and the Pattullo Bridge replacement.

When the regional district cancelled the North Shore wastewater contract in 2021, Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said there were no concerns about either of Acciona's other projects in the region.

The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project will extend the Expo Line 16 kilometres from King George Station to Langley's city centre, travelling along Fraser Highway for most of the route.

The new stations will be located at 140, 152, 160, 166, 184, 190, 196 and 203 streets.

Early work along the corridor is already underway, and the extension is currently projected to be operational by late 2028, according to the ministry.