TransLink chief apologizes for shutdown
CEO says staff got to 15 of 19 stalled trains within 20 minutes, but admits ‘we need to do better’
TransLink CEO Doug Allen sees a silver lining after another massive SkyTrain shutdown during Tuesday’s afternoon rush hour.
At a news briefing Wednesday, an apologetic Allen said that of the 19 trains that were stopped, staff were able to get to 15 of those trains within 20 minutes.
But he said, as outlined in a recent independent report following last summer’s two SkyTrain failures, they should have been able to get staff to help all passengers within a 20-minute time span.
An overheated induction motor on a car that was travelling from Nanaimo Station into downtown Vancouver was blamed for the almost three-hour shutdown.
Despite only one train having a problem, it caused a breakdown of the entire system due to the way it is linked up with the central computer network.
The heat-damaged parts were new in 2012, and it remains unclear what caused the breakdown.
In the upcoming days, maintenance workers will inspect all of the 500 induction motors on the trains, a process that is normally part of the routine maintenance schedule.
Allen also feels plans to have an additional 64 workers by October will help avoid problems in the dayto-day operation of the system.
“(Tuesday’s) events are quite significant and we need to address them,” said Allen. “I want to apologize to the many people who were disrupted. We need to do better.”
Allen also said he believes they have learned from the SkyTrain shutdowns last summer that left thousands of commuters stranded.
In some cases people opened the doors and walked off along the tracks right next to live electrical current.
This time, Allen said, large numbers of people did not get out on the tracks and cause further delays and problems. “People stayed calm and responsible,” he said.
In Tuesday’s chaos, the Expo and Millennium lines both experienced partial shutdowns. Some commuters did forcefully exit a stranded train in the Metrotown area, causing an additional 30-minute delay.
The problems began around 4 p.m. The process of bringing the SkyTrain system back online took until about 6:50 p.m.
While Expo Line trains were still running between Edmonds and King George, and Millennium Line trains between Columbia to VCCClark during the partial shutdown, there was no service leaving Waterfront station, leaving thousands of commuters stranded in downtown Vancouver.
As the afternoon rush hour began Wednesday, SkyTrain users said they have concerns about the latest debacle. “I don’t understand why they have had so many breakdowns,” said commuter Jordan Dougall, 25, who rides the Expo line to and from Surrey each day.