Lumostage Unveils Canada’s First Standing Subway Set for Film Production

Vancouver — Lumostage Virtual Production has introduced a breakthrough innovation in immersive filmmaking: a hybrid subway set that blends a physical train car with a fully responsive 3D virtual environment.

The unveiling took place inside the studio’s LED volume, where a meticulously restored train sits on a practical platform—while a hyper-realistic New York City subway station appears to stretch endlessly behind it.

Angus Luk-Ramsay, Chief Operating Officer at Lumostage, introduced the technology standing beside the repurposed rail car. “We use ceiling-mounted motion tracking to feed the exact position of the cinema camera into our rendering engine,” he explained. “Once the system knows where the camera is, it projects a 3D environment onto the LED walls that matches the perspective of the physical set perfectly.”

The result is a seamless fusion of virtual and real-world elements: every shift of the camera alters the digital station beyond the platform, making it appear as if the train and actor are truly inside a bustling urban subway.

A Retired Train Reimagined for the Big Screen

The centerpiece of the set is a fully renovated 1986 Mark I SkyTrain car, salvaged from retirement and transformed into a film-ready interior. Lumostage’s team stripped the original seating, reconfigured it into pairs, mounted the units along the walls, repainted the entire cabin, and updated all maps and signage to reflect contemporary transit design.

The physical craftsmanship pairs with the flexibility of virtual production. By changing 3D environments on the LED screens, the same train can appear underground in New York, elevated in Chicago, or running through an entirely fictional city.

A Globalizing Industry—and a Boost for British Columbia

As the film and television landscape becomes increasingly global, studios across the world compete to offer the most efficient, versatile, and sustainable production infrastructure. Ramsay notes that innovations like this position British Columbia as a competitive destination for international productions.

“Anything we can do to make B.C. more appealing compared to other major filming hubs ultimately benefits everyone in the ecosystem,” he said.

A Great Model for Film Sets

By combining a real transit vehicle with dynamic virtual environments, Lumostage offers a scalable solution for on-screen transportation scenes. Productions can now bypass the logistical challenges of shooting in active subway systems, while maintaining high visual realism.

This technology also reduces the need for temporary set construction and lowers carbon emissions from location shoots.

As studios seek sustainable production methods, Lumostage’s hybrid subway set marks a new era of seamless integration between physical and virtual craftsmanship. Lumostage expands LED Volume services with Canada’s only standing subway train set.