The longtime family attraction had been hounded by operational issues in recent years, from extreme ticket demand causing many fans to miss out, to the midseason suspension of the Bright Nights Christmas Train.
Vancouver’s popular but beleaguered Stanley Park train won’t be returning for Easter this year — or for the foreseeable future.
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“Our staff have been working tirelessly to get the train back on track for Easter and we recognize how disappointing this news is for so many people and their families,” said park board general manager Steve Jackson in a statement Monday.
The longtime family attraction had been hounded by operational issues in recent years, from extreme ticket demand causing many fans to miss out, to the midseason suspension of the Bright Nights Christmas Train.
According to Monday’s statement by the park board, testing had shown that the train’s engines — all of which are more than 50 years old — are “showing signs of age” and recent attempts to fix the emissions issue were unsuccessful.
Lon LaClaire, Vancouver’s general manager of engineering said the city’s mechanics had teamed with an external third-party train engineer to explore fixes for the exhaust issues.
“Unfortunately, through this work, it’s become clear that refurbishing the aged engines to meet the regulatory requirements and return them to service does not have a clear solution,” he said.
Despite “numerous steps” taken in recent years to extend the life of the train, city officials are now reconsidering the “operational and financial viability” of continuing to operate the train with the current engines.
Park board staff are now exploring options for the future of the Stanley Park train, with a report due back in June 2025.