Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by city-dweller

Thanks for posting this. Amazing photos!

Is that a busloop on the left?

That image is near the Stadiums. At Andy Livingstone park built in 1995.

In other topical news:
http://comics.boumerie.com/free/


One of the artists at VanCAF (May 23-24) at the Yaletown Roundhouse drew this comic.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by city-dweller

Thanks for posting this. Amazing photos!

Is that a busloop on the left?

With the nearby parking lot, I wonder if that was a bus zone for the Expo86.
The asphalt looks pretty new.


*update*
found an old Expo86 map in my files.

top edge is labelled "North Bus Terminal", and looks quite similar to the picture.

Quite a hike down Quebec to the east gate

[officedweller]

It may have been - but they eliminated the "North Gate" from the Expo 86 plans , so the closest gates would have been Plaza of Nations Gate or Expo Centre (Science World) Gate.

[xd_1771]

Heads up, TransLink just announced the 555 terminus's move from Braid to Lougheed Stations
as of the next service change (June 22)

http://www.translink.ca/-/media/Document...arvolth%20ExchangeLougheed%20Station.pdf

It will take 1 extra minute to get to 156 St and 2 extra minutes to Carvolth eastbound (this is of course made up for with the more westerly connection for Millennium Line travellers). In the westbound direction, all trips will be shorter by 1 minute despite the extra distance covered, during the AM rush hour - obvs due to avoiding congestion at Brunette off-ramp. The total time savings will be on the verge of 3-5 minutes for those heading to Lougheed or continuing westbound (to Broadway) or eastbound on the 97/Evergreen Line (to Coquitlam Ctr).

There's also going to be more late evening service. There is an extra EB trip at 11:09 -> 11:18 (156 St) -> 11:27 (Carvolth).

[Xrayal]

Originally Posted by xd_1771

Heads up, TransLink just announced the 555 terminus's move from Braid to Lougheed Stations
as of the next service change (June 22)

Can we assume that this means the Lougheed Bus Loop is returning to full operation/original configuration?

[Millennium2002]

Construction work at Lougheed Station no longer impacts the bus loop, and they have restored its original configuration for a few months now.

[officedweller]

... and we can assume they'll be using the new Hwy 1 HOV off-ramp/on-ramp?

[st7860]

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/06/systemwide-skytrain-failure-royal-oak-waterfront-stations/
"There is a systemwide failure on the SkyTrain system this evening rush hour resulting in no train service between Edmonds and Waterfront stations.

According to TransLink, a technical issue is causing the disruption – trains have timed out along the line. Trains are only running between Edmonds and King George stations and on the Millennium Line from Columbia to VCC-Clark stations."

[officedweller]

6:50pm SkyTrain service disruption has cleared. Expo/Millennium Line has returned to normal service.

http://www.translink.ca/en/Schedules-and-Maps/Alerts.aspx?tab=0

[WarrenC12]

This was a bad one. As I left the train to drive, I heard nothing but Skytrain bashing on the radio. Pretty sad really, when in the next breath they are reporting about accidents and other traffic issues as if they are routine and not a big deal.

[Waders]

Translink said 19 trains somehow lost communication with its control centre around 4:20 p.m., while many were packed full with rush hour commuters.

This technical issue does seem to be more serious. If I remember correctly, past 'lost communication' incident only involved 1 train.

[dpogue]

I don't know exactly what happened, but the result is that one of the control computers lost connection with its trains (essentially, lost knowledge of where they were on the track). That computer is in charge of the track between Royal Oak and Waterfront. The computer was back up and operational very shortly after, and the rest of the delay was just the time it took for staff to get to trains, drive them to stations to offload passengers, then drive them along for a ways until the computer picked them up again.

There were a few additional delays when people broke out of trains and they had to power down the track, but those were cleared fairly quickly.

This problem of the computer losing knowledge of train positions was also the primary cause of delays for the two larger incidents last year. One of the recommendations that TransLink has agreed to implement is an "auto restart" module for the train control system that is supposed to make it easier for the system to automatically detect trains. This module did not exist when SkyTrain first launched, but is in use on the Canada Line.

[jlousa]

I just got to 29th ave when they were clearing one of the trains at about 5:45. They had a westbound train back up from a few hundred meters up the track back into the station never seen a train back up like that. The people that got off were pissed it was a mk1 (no ac) and they had been stuck for 1hr and 20min. I decided to take the 16 bus home, turned out to be a wise decision.

[logicbomb]

Sweltering hot buses and trains stuck in the hot sun. Was an absolute nightmare of a commute, just gave up and went for a few drinks after I realized I wasn't going to be able to get on a bus.

One thing is for sure, we need more redundancies in this system. The 555 and 311 are great examples of suburban bus routes proving to be useful in events like these. Skytrain is a wonderful system when it is working, but we - anyone who resides in Burnaby, New West, Surrey and beyond are truly screwed when it doesn't work. This is why I wish we had a commuter rail service for those SoF, this needs to be a priority in the next decade.

You know something has to eventually give with regards to TL. There will only be more delays as we progress forward....I think TL has been quite fortunate when you consider there hasn't been any fatalities related to the heat and train delay.

[MIPS]

The sudden number of major breakdowns in less than a year is really odd.
Did a switch flip somewhere and someone forgot where it was?

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by MIPS

The sudden number of major breakdowns in less than a year is really odd.
Did a switch flip somewhere and someone forgot where it was?

It's all Evergreen line related is my best guess. They probably have to upgrade/replace computer systems and the original Expo line logically still has all the old equipment that still works (you never replace equipment that is still working) and since it's the oldest installation of it's kind (The Scarborough RT does not count since it's not automated) there was logically no MTBF.

The Seltrac system is also used for ATP on lots of light rail systems too, but Vancouver was the first to use it in fully automated mode, so we should not be surprised when equipment is run past it's design life cycle. The software itself is a different thing altogether, and often you can not replace hardware and and software independently due to hardware differences.

To give you an example, some people point to the floppy disk and the OS2 references that "it's old" when that's not what makes it old. You can STILL install a floppy drive on any computer that has a floppy drive connector, and you can still install USB drives on systems that don't. You can run the original OS/2 inside a virtual machine on a much newer piece of hardware if that was what was called for. What people think is the software is just a GUI front end.

https://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/default/files/asset/document/nettracbrochure_final_032907.pdf



Also...

https://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/defaul...nt/SelTracBrochure_CBTCSolutions_eng.pdf

Thales, enviable track record
Thales is the leading global supplier in the design, manufacture and implementation of advanced technology
systems for urban rail mass transit .Continually evolving to meet the changing needs of operators around
the world, SelTrac technology has provided safe, reliable, revenue-efficient operation over two decades.
SelTrac sets the quality and performance standards that all others strive to reach.
• SelTrac® -- the world’s most widely adopted CBTC system
> Proven with over 10 million train operating hours of revenue service
> More revenue CBTC km than any other supplier (over 1000km)
> Selected by 27 metro, light rapid transit and automated people mover operators around the world
> The latest technology underpinned by core systems and adapted to meet customer
specific operations
• Re-signalling experience – Thales has experience on more than 215 km of urban rail track
• Market Firsts
> Fully automated CBTC in revenue service – Vancouver SkyTrain (1986)
> 1st revenue service of ‘free space’ radio CBTC for fully automated operation – Las Vegas Monorail
and Hong Kong DRL
> CBTC UTO of the longest metros in the world – Vancouver SkyTrain and Dubai Red and Green lines
> 3 lines at once into revenue service – Shanghai lines 6, 8 and 9
> 1st re-signalling to CBTC – Docklands Light Rail (1995)
> Most challenging re-signalling project – San Francisco MUNI
> World’s largest re-signalling project – London’s Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines
> Automated depot including driverless coupling/uncoupling – Vancouver SkyTrain

[WarrenC12]

I'm not sure that it was Evergreen-related given the section of track that was out of service.

A Broadway extension would have meant people could still make it to Surrey on the train via Canada-Millennium-Expo.

Then one more link to Metrotown (LRT down 41st?) and we'd have a pretty redundant system.

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm not sure that it was Evergreen-related given the section of track that was out of service.

A Broadway extension would have meant people could still make it to Surrey on the train via Canada-Millennium-Expo.

Then one more link to Metrotown (LRT down 41st?) and we'd have a pretty redundant system.

-LRT between Arbutus to New West via Marpole (you have the ROW already).
-Rapid bus from Lougheed to Guildford (directly connecting both town centers)
-Rapid bus from Scott Rd/Surrey Central to Richmond
-B-Line down Hastings
-B-Line down 49th
-B-Line down 41st

[CanSpice]

TransLink announced what caused yesterday's outage: a burnt-out linear induction motor. It's a good thing a shutdown is all that happened!

[WarrenC12]

But why did it shut down comms for the whole line? That part seems pretty inexcusable.

Canada Line had a fire at some point in the last several months and it was a minor issue that was quickly resolved.