TRANSLINK’S Interim CEO Doug Allen announced on Wednesday that an overheated motor in a car’s panel box caused Tuesday’s closure of the SkyTrain tracks at the peak of the evening rush hour service.
A train near Nanaimo “timed out” at 4:20 p.m. and that led to 18 other trains between Royal Oak and Waterfront stations losing connection with the control room.
Allen said 64 additional station attendants will be hired by October to deal with any future shutdowns and there will be better communication with passengers.
On Tuesday, Translink in a statement said that Expo Line trains continued to run between Edmonds and King George stations, and Millennium Line trains continued to run between Columbia and VCC-Clark stations.
Many trains were stopped between stations and several were attended by a SkyTrain attendant within five to 10 minutes and driven manually to the nearest station. Staff attended the majority of the remainder of the trains within 30 minutes.
Customers broke out of three different trains in the Nanaimo SkyTrain area, so Translink had to turn off power in the area to ensure customers were safe and clear of trains. Attending to these customers delayed the SkyTrain system recovery by an additional hour.
Twnety-five buses provided shuttle service between affected stations. Tramslink deployed over 100 staff to help customers, respond to questions and assist with crowds – including 60 SkyTrain Attendants on trains and at stations, 16 Transit Police officers and five Transit Security units, 13 support staff and eight transit supervisors. Seven additional technicians worked to bring the system back on as quickly as possible.
By 6:10 p.m., TransLink was able to provide some service with SkyTrain Attendants manually driving trains in the affected area. Full service was restored full service by 6:45 p.m.
“While we recognize the inconvenience and longer commute times, we appreciate their patience and calm behaviour while our staff worked to repair the problem and help redirect customers via alternate means,” TransLink said.
