What do Hollywood productions such as Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, The X-Files, and The Trial of the Incredible Hulk have in common?
Over the decades, SkyTrain’s original Mark I cars built in the 1980s and early 1990s have been prominently featured in movies, television series, and other media.
Nearly a decade ago, these iconic cars were even featured in South Korean K-pop troupe Twice’s “Likey” music video, which has now recorded a lifetime total of 650 million views on YouTube.
And now, there is a new purpose-built way for Hollywood North to use one of the first retired Mark I cars for productions, with great ease and flexibility.
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TransLink selected Lumostage Virtual Production to provide a new second life for one Mark I car, as part of the public transit authority’s initiative of seeking interest from businesses, developers, community organizations, and municipal governments in repurposing the retiring old fleet for new permanent innovative uses in the community.
According to Lumostage, this is Canada’s first and only standing subway train set for productions.
This particular retired car is found at the company’s studio facility in Langley Township, and its exterior blue, red, and white livery paint has now been removed, revealing the car’s bare aluminum body. There have also been changes to the car’s interior, with the original seating replaced with side/perimeter seating to create a more spacious and open film set.
Additionally, this Mark I car for filming services can now be positioned directly in front of the studio’s 180-degree LED volume stage for filming, with an animated or video backdrop realistically simulating a moving train, such as the vehicle speeding through a tunnel. The company already uses this configuration and technology for filming automobile scenes in a dynamic way.
“Filming subway scenes in B.C. has always been a challenge — until now,” said Angus Luk-Ramsay, the Chief Operating Officer for Lumostage, in a statement.
“By working with TransLink and top motion picture engineers and artists, Lumostage has turned a retired SkyTrain car into a film-friendly, interactive subway train set that makes our province an even more attractive destination for motion picture and commercial productions.”
TransLink is retiring all 150 Mark I SkyTrain cars, which are being replaced by a substantial portion of the new generation Mark V train fleet.
The first new Mark V train entered service in July 2025, and TransLink is now accepting the delivery of one new five-car-long Mark V train at a pace of about one train per month. A few Mark V trains are now in service.
A total of 235 Mark V cars forming 47 five-car-long trains will arrive through 2029, with the initial trains being used to replace the capacity of the Mark I fleet before the remaining cars are used to expand the overall capacity of the Expo Line and Millennium Line, and serve the needs of the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus and the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension. The remaining Mark I cars will be retired by 2026/2027.
TransLink notes that it is accepting proposals until Nov. 28, 2025, for the creative reuse of the next set of cars entering retirement. Additional applications will open at a later date, when more cars are removed from the system.
Early in 2025, TransLink indicated it had received 11 proposals to repurpose the cars during the first application intake. The Narrow Group also previously publicly announced their proposal to convert some cars into artist studios.
Today’s announcement that Lumostage has repurposed a car marks TransLink’s first official announcement on finding a new home for at least some of the Mark I cars, as opposed to sending the entire fleet to the scrapyard.
The selected proponents are responsible for covering the costs of moving the Mark I cars from the SkyTrain facility and repurposing the cars.
“We’re thrilled to see one of our iconic SkyTrain cars enjoy a future which will preserve its legacy while supporting one of our strongest local industries,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn.
“Since first rolling out nearly 40 years ago, the Mark I SkyTrain cars have carried millions of customers and become a defining symbol of Metro Vancouver’s transit system.”
You might also like:
– TransLink seeking ideas for reusing old SkyTrain cars entering retirement
– First of 47 new generation Mark V trains enter service on SkyTrain
– End of the line in sight for two generations of old SkyTrain cars
– 12 ideas for the future of 150 old SkyTrain cars entering retirement
– Artist studios among 11 proposals submitted to TransLink to repurpose old SkyTrain cars
– A world-class example of repurposing subway trains as public space centrepieces
