Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[Mac Write]

I mean livery.

[MIPS]

Okay, someone is asking me right now and I'm almost certain someone can answer the question here.

How did the Skytrain announce stations and play the door chimes when it opened in 1985? I know in modern times all the announcements are digital files but voice sampling that actually sounded good in the mid 80's was still pretty expensive and very reliant on large amounts of storage. How did they do it? Was it actually digital samples? A tape loop?

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Okay, someone is asking me right now and I'm almost certain someone can answer the question here.

How did the Skytrain announce stations and play the door chimes when it opened in 1985? I know in modern times all the announcements are digital files but voice sampling that actually sounded good in the mid 80's was still pretty expensive and very reliant on large amounts of storage. How did they do it? Was it actually digital samples? A tape loop?

I looked around and came up with these from The Buzzer Blog. If you want anything else chances are you'll have to e-mail them.

Podcast: the story of the SkyTrain chime

A reply on there:

By Murray, August 19, 2009 @ 9:51 am

What isn’t on the interenet these days?!

My name is Murray Price, I was the engineer at Little Mountain Sound on the “Chime” session. Ian seems to forget that I also played some of the chimes sounds during the session. I remember there were a lot ideas we both laid done.

The final sequence of tones that were chosen are based on the opening three notes of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”. I remember this because that was the sound the rubber wheels on the Montreal Metro trains would make as they left the station.

I visited Montreal a lot during the 80s and as a composer that sound used to drive me crazy before I figured out what piece of music it was from. After that I always associated Fanfare for the Common Man with subway trains, very haunting.

I’m sure Ian didn’t realize at the time that that was a direction I was pushing him in, I doubt it would have been included it if he understood the context, but I was pleased in the end that it was the one that resonated with Skytrain. (To be accurate Copland uses a perfect 4th in his opening, Skytrain is a perfect 5th, but framed the same as “Fanfare”)

The synth that was used was my Yamaha DX7, which I still have.

So there you have it! A little bit of trivia for anyone who cares.
I love how the intenet self-corrects itself!

Also:

By Jhenifer Pabillano - Buzzer Editor, September 13, 2010 @ 1:38 pm

Burt S: Well, I’ve got answers for part of your question. The current voice is not the original 1985 voice — the original SkyTrain voice was done by Karen Kelm, an employee at SkyTrain.

This lady is the voice of SkyTrain - This has an interview with Laureen Regan, who's been the Skytrain voice since 2001.

[Meraki]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Okay, someone is asking me right now and I'm almost certain someone can answer the question here.

How did the Skytrain announce stations and play the door chimes when it opened in 1985? I know in modern times all the announcements are digital files but voice sampling that actually sounded good in the mid 80's was still pretty expensive and very reliant on large amounts of storage. How did they do it? Was it actually digital samples? A tape loop?

It seems like all the trains, even the MkIs were storing the announcements digitally. I don't have the link to the video on hand but they can make the train play everything stored, it's not in order like a tape would require.

The files are stored locally on the train, explaining the weeks long inconsistencies with recordings when changes happen.

[Pinion]

I can't say with certainty but I seem to remember the skytrain having a voice/chimes from at least 1987 when I moved back to Vancouver.

[Mac Write]

I can't get out of my head "Why were the 2009 Mark II Series 1300-1400 as A-C-C-B?" Translink new they were for fleet expansion and they would have been allot more useful as A-C-C-B train sets.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

I can't get out of my head "Why were the 2009 Mark II Series 1300-1400 as A-C-C-B?" Translink new they were for fleet expansion and they would have been allot more useful as A-C-C-B train sets.

i always wondered that myself. it makes sense in 2000 to buy the 2 car trains, but in 09 to go with 2 car trains? always seemed odd. but they still hold almost the same amount of people, they just don't allow for better dispersal of people in the trains. better then the MK I's still.

[nname]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

i always wondered that myself. it makes sense in 2000 to buy the 2 car trains, but in 09 to go with 2 car trains? always seemed odd. but they still hold almost the same amount of people, they just don't allow for better dispersal of people in the trains. better then the MK I's still.

Well, they would probably glad that they didn't order 4-car trains back then. With the new order coming up, they would need run 38-40 2-car trains...

[officedweller]

Maybe they ordered A-B-A-B instead of A-C-C-B to maximize the number of separate trains
- i.e. able to run A-B trains with higher frequency (like on the M-Line right now), even if the capacity of each train is low.

Honolulu is ordering all 4-car trains from the start, but that'll meant really wide headways between trains.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Maybe they ordered A-B-A-B instead of A-C-C-B to maximize the number of separate trains
- i.e. able to run A-B trains with higher frequency (like on the M-Line right now), even if the capacity of each train is low.

That makes sense - the Mk II trains have more capacity as 2-car trains than the Mk I's do, so they work well on the lower-volume M-Line, while the Mk I trains work best as 6-car trainsets where high capacity is needed on the Expo Line.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Maybe they ordered A-B-A-B instead of A-C-C-B to maximize the number of separate trains
- i.e. able to run A-B trains with higher frequency (like on the M-Line right now), even if the capacity of each train is low.

Honolulu is ordering all 4-car trains from the start, but that'll meant really wide headways between trains.

That's because the manufacturer screwed up and couldn't vary the train length.

[Mac Write]

As soon as the 48-car Mark II order came in Translink made all Mark II trains 4-car except for 3 2-car shuttles for broadway to downtown.

If they had ordered the 48-cars as A-C-C-B trains that would still have left 30 2-car train sets for the millennium line once Evergreen extension opened.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That's because the manufacturer screwed up and couldn't vary the train length.

It was a political decision to change from 2 to 4-car trains - here's the pdf report justifying it.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&e...ion.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1IxG6yNL2cLLA1FoPvSm3g

One assumption was that the trains would be lengthened and out of commission while that work was done (as opposed to just coupling them together) and that middle cars without systems controls are cheaper.


http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&e...ion.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1IxG6yNL2cLLA1FoPvSm3g

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by officedweller

It was a political decision to change from 2 to 4-car trains - here's the pdf report justifying it.

It's hard for me to understand why people would vote for lower frequencies. But then again as the question is literally worded there would be more capacity with the longer trains, so it doesn't really seem like a fair comparison...

[Migrant_Coconut]

So Honolulu's taking the opposite approach from Vancouver? Should be an interesting compare-and-contrast for anybody else wanting a driverless LIM system.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

It's hard for me to understand why people would vote for lower frequencies. But then again as the question is literally worded there would be more capacity with the longer trains, so it doesn't really seem like a fair comparison...

In the report itself, it also says the longer trains would provide more capacity overall (extra gangway, I guess), and less crowding in the train itself (i.e. with surfboards)

[CanSpice]

Today for the first time since it's opened, I got a two-car grey Mk II train out to Coquitlam. I've never seen the grey ones before, just the first gen white ones. Is TransLink trying this out because the second generation Mk II trains have slightly higher capacity for the morning rush?

[Colin4567]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Today for the first time since it's opened, I got a two-car grey Mk II train out to Coquitlam. I've never seen the grey ones before, just the first gen white ones. Is TransLink trying this out because the second generation Mk II trains have slightly higher capacity for the morning rush?

The 2nd-gen Mark II's have been rare on the Evergreen Line. They're hardly ever in use, no matter the time of day. I think it's more of a luck of the draw thing.