Edmonton's LRT fleet won't grow to five-car trains for another decade even though the station platforms have all been lengthened to accomodate the longer trains.

"We don't have enough cars in the fleet to be able to run all five-car trains," said Dave Geake, director of LRT operations.

"We do have some requests into council for finding in future years...so we can run a mixture of fours and fives as we see the ridership growing."

Each car costs about $4 million, he said.

The city spent about $75 million on the three-year construction project to expand platforms to accomodate longer trains and keep up with passenger demand.

"I'm surprised that if we had the plans to have those trains running full capacity in a way we can deal with overcrowding ... but we are unable to do that now" said Coun. Amarjeet Sohi.

"I would definitely like to know what the reasons are."

Geake said the 16 trains of four cars each is currently enough to match the number of riders in peak times.

But that doesn't sit will with commuter Melissa Tirrell as she watches as a packed train leaving Century Park LRT Station without her.

"It's kind of annoying when you watch the last one pull away and you're stuck standing on the next one anyways."

The LRT has 20 cars on order from the manufacturer for use on the NAIT line which is expected to open next year.

With files from CBC's Marion Warnica