Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Funny, the Olympic period wasn't enough of a "test"?

Odd that they're adding frequency just as people are starting their summer vacations.

Perhaps incoming visitors using C-Line will offset the locals who've left town for their vacation?

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Waders

Around 6:30pm? No wonder the Metrotown skytrain station was so jam packed for awhile and no train arrived.

Looking at the BCHydro outages page, I see that Stadium and Waterfront were affected. Perhaps trains in out of downtown were halted? which caused a ripple-effect down the line?
(pun intended)

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Looking at the BCHydro outages page, I see that Stadium and Waterfront were affected. Perhaps trains in out of downtown were halted? which caused a ripple-effect down the line?
(pun intended)

The Skytrain team is pretty good about handling power outages. During the big outage in 2008 they managed to keep Skytrain running by allowing power from unaffected substations to flow along the third rail into the blacked-out section. Station lighting was maintained by local UPS units.

The third rail isn't really designed to carry power a great distance, and too many trains would have caused a voltage drop large enough to trip the safeties on the trains, so staff limited the number of trains in the blacked-out area in order to maintained service. If a train had tripped then it would have been game over.

I haven't heard how this latest outage affected the system, but they sure did a stellar job on the 2008 outage.

Here's a brief mention of that one: http://vancouveronthelines.blogspot.com/2008/07/skytrain-resilience.html

[red-paladin]

The gate is back on the Metrotown emergency exit actually. I used it yesterday. You just have to push it open, as there is a strong magnet. I saw cops standing right there, and they didn't say anything to the people using it.
I always use those stairs or the elevator since I want to go west from there.

I was at work when the lights went out. The lights flickered about 4 times over 20 min, and the power came on and off three times, but that was internal power I guess.

[deasine]

I was slightly surprised the SkyTrains became an issue in today's incident. In theory, if a third of the power substations went out throughout the network, the trains should still be able to run as they are designed to.

[cabotp]

I wonder if it took out more than one substation. Thus not allowing the trains to run along a certain section causing the ripple effect.

[CLC]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Odd that they're adding frequency just as people are starting their summer vacations.

Perhaps incoming visitors using C-Line will offset the locals who've left town for their vacation?

If the old 98-b line is any indication, C-Line will be very well used by international students come here for summer "study"+vacation.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by deasine

I was slightly surprised the SkyTrains became an issue in today's incident. In theory, if a third of the power substations went out throughout the network, the trains should still be able to run as they are designed to.

If "a third of the power substations" without power were located from Waterfront to Main St, I wonder if there would be enough power coming from Commercial to operate all the trains between Waterfront and Main St.

However, if "a third of the power substations" without power referred to a few in Vancouver, a few in New West and a few in Surrey, then I would think enough power from nearby Skytrain stations that were unaffected by the power outage would let Skytrain operate close to their normal levels.


The difference between Fridays power outage and the July 2008 outage was that Fridays was resolved within about half an hour even though it hit a large section of downtown, whereas with the July 2008 outage it was known within a few hours that the fire in the substation and flooding of the conduits would result in power being out for days while repairs were being done. I think initial reports were some downtown blocks near the substation wouldn't have power back on for a week, but I think everyone had power again after 3 1/2 days.

[mezzanine]

It looks like Human transit's Jarrett Walker is coming in August 4 (?) to do a talk, likely at SFU. Looks pretty good:

A Field Guide to Transit Debates

As transit becomes more popular, many cities are having intense and often bitter quarrels about what kind of transit to build or operate. Working from his 20 years of experience as a transit planning consultant, Jarrett Walker examines some of the most common confusions that affect debates about transit, and that often lead to disappointing outcomes. He then suggests strategies for clarifying transit debates, by recognizing the unavoidable “hard choices” that arise from transit’s intrinsic geometry and costs.

http://www.humantransit.org/2010/06/restless-summer-wanderings.html

[Mac Write]

4-car Mark II A-C-C-B train
• Video Link

[hollywoodnorth]

^^ wow that makes me a bit hard I must say

[nova9]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

^^ wow that makes me a bit hard I must say

wow....uh....thanks for sharing?

[usog]

Man, you haven't seen the interiors of the Beijing Airport Express then:

[Photo Source Required]

And all on 4-car trainsets. It doesn't show in the picture that well but if you actually ride it, it's much roomier and more comfortable than our trains. How much wider are theirs compared to the ones we have?

[Mac Write]

You mean this train?
• Video Link

[Waders]

SkyTrain riders hurt in quick stop
JEFF HODSON
METRO VANCOUVER
June 22, 2010 5:09 a.m.

Three elderly women were taken to hospital after a pop can fell onto the SkyTrain track, causing the train to skid to a stop, TransLink revealed yesterday.

The incident occurred Sunday afternoon at the 29th Avenue Station on the Expo Line in East Vancouver.

Four elderly female passengers were injured when SkyTrain’s emergency brakes were triggered automatically by the weight of the pop can on the tracks.

SkyTrain president Doug Kelsey said the intrusion alarm is set to a low tolerance and prevents the train from colliding with objects or people on the track.

“Something with the weight of a pop can might also be a wallet or a cell- phone or a child’s toy,” Kelsey said. “The owner of that wallet — or cellphone or toy — could jump onto the tracks after it.”

SkyTrain had 231 intrusion alarm incidents in the past month. Of those, 80 were caused by garbage and the other 10 by people jumping onto the tracks to retrieve objects.

Source:]http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/559037--skytrain-riders-hurt-in-quick-stop

I always hold on to the pole. There were a few occassions that the train stopped suddenly and people just literally "fly" forward, colliding with other passengers and objects.

And how does the intrusion alarm system work? The weight of an object can trigger the alarm?
I remembered a few years ago at Metrotown Station I saw an elder person climbed down the track to retrieve a pop can. There was no alarm triggered. Just because of 5-cents, that person could have been run over by a train or got electrified.

[Alex Mackinnon]

I know theres a few sets of lasers and light sensors. I'd imagine on under the reactor rail there's probably some piezo sensors as well.

[deasine]

The system intrusion system on the Expo Line is different from the Millennium and Canada Lines. On the Expo Line, they are literally weight-sensing pads, where if something falls onto the pad, it triggers the alarm. On the Millennium and Canada Lines, there are two components to the intrusion alarm system. The first component is a set of laser beams on the platform edge. If you something crosses that laser beam, it sends an alarm to the OMC, and on the Canada Line, there is a warning message. The second component is a set of laser beams on the trackbed. If something or someone crosses the set of platform beams and lands on the trackbed, then an intrusion alarm is set off. If it does not cross the platform beams but touches the trackbed, then there will be a notification sent to the OMC to check what is wrong but this does not set off an intrusion alarm.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Waders

Source:]http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/559037--skytrain-riders-hurt-in-quick-stop

I always hold on to the pole. There were a few occassions that the train stopped suddenly and people just literally "fly" forward, colliding with other passengers and objects.

And how does the intrusion alarm system work? The weight of an object can trigger the alarm?
I remembered a few years ago at Metrotown Station I saw an elder person climbed down the track to retrieve a pop can. There was no alarm triggered. Just because of 5-cents, that person could have been run over by a train or got electrified.

I don't think NYC subways have any track intrusion alarms (most of it was built before WWII - a time when common sense about staying off tracks was a lot more common)
When I was in NYC a few years ago, a friend there told me about the time that someone's shopping bag fell off the platform onto the tracks. The fool jumped down onto the tracks to retrieve it just as the subway train came zipping into the station. My friend was saying the other people on the platform were scrambling to pull him back onto the platform when the got smacked and dragged by the train. The shopping bag & contents was retrieved without a mark on it, but the station was closed for the rest of the afternoon while the rescue crews retrieved his remains and cleaned up the area.

[cabotp]

You should always be prepared for an emergency stop. Cause you never know when it might happen. That is one of reasons I actually prefer standing by the doors or against a wall with my back in the direction that we are going. That way during a sudden stop I'm using the wall as my support.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

I don't think NYC subways have any track intrusion alarms (most of it was built before WWII - a time when common sense about staying off tracks was a lot more common)
When I was in NYC a few years ago, a friend there told me about the time that someone's shopping bag fell off the platform onto the tracks. The fool jumped down onto the tracks to retrieve it just as the subway train came zipping into the station. My friend was saying the other people on the platform were scrambling to pull him back onto the platform when the got smacked and dragged by the train. The shopping bag & contents was retrieved without a mark on it, but the station was closed for the rest of the afternoon while the rescue crews retrieved his remains and cleaned up the area.

Actually, it is rare to find systems that have intrusion alarms, most don't. I was shocked to find out that even the automated London DLR system doesn't have it.