SkyTrain Station Renovations

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Jebby

He's saying all the major redevelopments along the Canada Line should include a station expansion in their plans. Fr example the Marine Gateway development should include a station expansion along with the huge development they're building.

And even give MC2 the option of paying for an overhead entrance directly into Marine Drive station.

That area is going to be extremely busy, both with transit riders and pedestrians navigating that very busy intersection (Cambie and Marine).

[Millennium2002]

From this diagram, there appears to be no easy way for anyone on the north side of the station to access/leave the new platform without having to take a circular route.

Because of that, I'm not really sure if I agree with this current design...

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

From this diagram, there appears to be no easy way for anyone on the north side of the station to access/leave the new platform without having to take a circular route.

Because of that, I'm not really sure if I agree with this current design...

I assume that there'll be an escalator to ground from the new platform on the south side of Broadway.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I assume that there'll be an escalator to ground from the new platform on the south side of Broadway.

I doubt it.

Hands down the busiest movement of people in the station is in the AM rush, when full trains on the Millennium line unload at a majority of the riders transfer to the Expo line into downtown. And that crush of riders will grow with the Evergreen line and increased frequency of trains.

The new platform will cater to this transfer, relieving the bottleneck caused by people walking infront of each other at the base of the escalators in the station plaza. You have people making it for the b-line coming down the escalator cutting across people running for the Expo line from the Millennium line. It is a mess.

I don't think they will have it be a unload one side, load the other. The third platform will be for the AM rush, facilitating a segregated transfer between inbound Expo and Evergreen lines. This will relieve pressure on the main platform making it more navigable.

And in the future when people will make the transfer from Expo to the Broadway line, the direct connection will be useful in both directions, so I hope they make it wide.

[officedweller]

I would think they'd need a stair/escalator for fire escape purposes
(i.e. at 10th Ave (not necessarily interfering with the platform space)
That would allow a down and up movement for someone who ended up on the wrong platform.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I would think they'd need a stair/escalator for fire escape purposes
(i.e. at 10th Ave (not necessarily interfering with the platform space)
That would allow a down and up movement for someone who ended up on the wrong platform.

I would bet there would be a fire/emergency only exit at the south end of the platform down to 10th (like at every station).

But from the image it looks like the stairs down from the platform go to the mezzanine of the Millennium line (not the platform), near that coffee shop thing where there is open space.

So if someone were to get off the train on the wrong side, they would need to go down the stairs there, then double back over the existing walkway to the main plaza. I'm sure people would learn fast which way to go, and it's not an impossible no way out if you do go the wrong way, just an annoying short walk.

I don't think you could go down sooner as there is a shoppers in the way and the walkway would go over the existing Tranlink breakrooms/washrooms.

[hollywoodnorth]

main street station east side addition moving along ... my pics from a couple nights ago

[Ehlun]

Google is being uncooperative, so I can't seem to find information on this.

Power rail replacement started last year, then was cancelled. Then resumed this year in May. Anybody know why it was cancelled?

[MIPS]

I remember that too. I think they had to push it a quarter because of budgeting issues.

[ryanmaccdn]

was on skytrain today and had a cool/new/scary experience. We left royal oak and was heading towards Metro and the train lost power.... the lights shut off and the AC units powered down. And the oddest part was the train was just "coasting" no breaking...nothing. After about 10 seconds of slowing down due to various forms of resistance the power came on and the skytrain acted like nothing happened and just chugged away again.... it then repeated it two more times.

I have to think this has something to do with power rail replacement as this area of track between royal and metro has been under construction this past week.

Anyways I have a video on my phone of it... its cool/non event.

[st7860]

Originally Posted by ryanmaccdn

was on skytrain today and had a cool/new/scary experience. We left royal oak and was heading towards Metro and the train lost power.... the lights shut off and the AC units powered down. And the oddest part was the train was just "coasting" no breaking...nothing. After about 10 seconds of slowing down due to various forms of resistance the power came on and the skytrain acted like nothing happened and just chugged away again.... it then repeated it two more times.

I have to think this has something to do with power rail replacement as this area of track between royal and metro has been under construction this past week.

Anyways I have a video on my phone of it... its cool/non event.

while repairing a section of power rail it shorted out. check twitter for more info-- some passengers reported weird smells and other fun stuff yesterday afternoon

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by ryanmaccdn

We left royal oak and was heading towards Metro and the train lost power.... the lights shut off and the AC units powered down. And the oddest part was the train was just "coasting" no breaking...nothing.

I had something similar happen to me on a Mark I train a few months after the original Expo line opened. I boarded an inbound train at 29th Ave. and after the doors closed the train didn't accelerate like normal, it just started rolling under its own weight down the hill toward Nanaimo station. I started to worry about what the heck was going to happen. After perhaps 10 to 20 seconds of this the emergency brakes locked on and the train came to a juddering halt, and shortly after that it started accelerating with the usual sounds of the LIM.

[Mac Write]

DAMN would love to be on a train when it lost power. I guess some systems are on internal power and hence no emergency stop as it didn't loose communications, just internal lighting and running power. Way way too cool.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

DAMN would love to be on a train when it lost power.

Let me tell you right now that being on a train rolling downhill without power is a unique but also rather unsettling experience...

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Let me tell you right now that being on a train rolling downhill without power is a unique but also rather unsettling experience...

As we've found out at Lac-Megantic ...

[MIPS]

The couplers allow for power transfer between cars to get over small dead spots but I remember last year west of Burnaby Lake there was one spot where you would still get the brief blip from the lights. If I read right the onboard backup power is only enough to run emergency lighting, the VOBC and the e-brake which seems a bit absurd to take ten seconds to engage.


---hypothetical scenario time---
Imagine a train stopped inbound at Nanaimo and there's another train running close behind it waiting to get into the staging tracks on the other side of the station. If the power fails the train in the station isn't going to go anywhere but even if the train above was slowing down the failure kills the primary brakes and the LIM and for ten seconds it's a rolling deadweight that could plough into the train at the platform.

I would expect at tops three seconds unless there's a reason it takes longer.

Edited: According to below the brakes can be immediate when power is lost. Bizarre.

[Meraki]

I had a fun encounter pulling into Lougheed one day on a Mk I. The train lost power causing the emergency brakes to apply. About a half second later, while everybody was in the process of being violently thrown forward it came back and the train switched to 100% accelleration, throwing the unstable passengers back in the other direction.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

As we've found out at Lac-Megantic ...

That train's engine was running. The driver left the train unattended but with the engines running to power the air brakes.

The engineer left the lead locomotive, #5017, running to keep air pressure supplied to the train's air brakes and also applied a number of manual hand brakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-Mégantic_derailment#Events_prior_to_the_derailment

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by MIPS

If the power fails the train in the station isn't going to go anywhere but even if the train above was slowing down the failure kills the primary brakes and the LIM and for ten seconds it's a rolling deadweight that could plough into the train at the platform.

I would expect at tops three seconds unless there's a reason it takes longer.

The automatic train control system uses a "moving block" concept which allocates a "safe zone" around a train as it moves long the track. Track space is allocated in such a way to ensure that the train is always able to stop before it reaches the end of the block it's been authorized to occupy.

It wouldn't surprise me that, in the event of a loss of communications, the train would be able to proceed autonomously to the point at which it needs to brake in order to stay within it's authorized track block. This avoids service issues with momentary communications disruptions, and it would explain why a train without LIM power is allowed to roll freely for a certain distance before the emergency brakes kick in.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Jebby

That train's engine was running. The driver left the train unattended but with the engines running to power the air brakes.

It was running, but not engaged. It was gravity that sent the train down the hill, not the engine.