Does Translink’s wet leaf excuse hold water?
At first glance, TransLink’s excuse for SkyTrain going kaput last Saturday, may explain why the mini-metro stopped dead in its tracks. But there is a problem – SkyTrain is an unconventional railway, powered by Linear Induction Motors or LIM’s and there is no power transmitted to the wheels at all, thus no wheel slip.
It is true that the oily paste caused by Autumn’s leaf fall causes havoc with many transit systems, causing annual headaches for operating staff. The oily leaf sludge causes wheel-slip with powered wheels, which SkyTrain does not have.
Added to this mix is that SkyTrain’s automatic train control counts wheel revolutions as part of its automatic train control system, but again SkyTrain’s wheels are not powered and the chances of wheel slip is almost nil.
It is my opinion that TransLink is still in the dark why the Expo Line failed on Saturday and for want of a better excuse is using the annual leaf fall season to cover-up the real problem, a problem that TransLink refuses to acknowledge or is still completely in the dark as to what has happened.
Wet leaves blamed for Saturday’s shut-down of SkyTrain’s Expo line
By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver SunServices on the Expo and Millennium lines were completely restored by Saturday afternoon following disruptions that lasted several hours. Bus bridges remain in place in several places to deal with passenger backlog.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG files
METRO VANCOUVER — An unusually heavy buildup of leaves is being blamed for a lengthy shutdown of the SkyTrain system last weekend.
The Expo line was closed for six hours on Saturday morning, following a heavy storm Friday night that brought rain, hail and wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour to Metro Vancouver, disrupting ferry service and sending leaves and other debris into the air.
Fred Cummings, president and general manager of B.C. Rapid Transit Co. (BCRTC), which operates the Expo and Millennium lines, said the high winds deposited a large volume of leaves on the SkyTrain guideway. The weight of the trains turned some of the leaves on the tracks into a oily paste, causing the wheels on some trains to skid, and prompting the SkyTrain system to shut down automatically for safety reasons.
“It was an unusual combination of events: high winds driving leaves into the guideway, and then heavy rains soaking them into a mass that collected on the cars’ wheel assemblies,” Cummings said.
Cummings said this is the first time in 26 years that a buildup of leaves has caused such a major disruption to the transit system. “It’s like they all come down at once,” he said.
The system has experienced smaller events in the past, he said, particularly on the stretch between Royal Oak and Edmonds before the trees there were cut back.
BCRTC had initially thought the shutdown was caused by a software glitch, before an analysis determined that the oily substance on the wheels was crushed leaves.
Cummings apologized to passengers for the lengthy delays, and said BCRTC will be looking for ways to better respond to similar situations in the future.
He noted that if another windstorm hits, the company may have employees manually inspect the tracks or run trains all night long A?ai??i??ai??? similar to what’s done now in a snowstorm A?ai??i??ai??? to ensure there’s no accumulation of leaves.
“It’s one more thing we have to watch for,” he said.
Cummings noted it’s also been determined that all SkyTrain safety systems, including the automatic train communications software, had operated “normally and appropriately during the incident.”
Coast Mountain Bus Company provided a bus bridge to carry passengers between Surrey and New Westminster and between Commercial-Broadway Station and downtown Vancouver. The Millennium Line operated between VCC-Clark and Sapperton stations.
The company estimated the cost in overtime and extra part-time hours was about $15,200 A?ai??i??ai??? approximately $12,000 for BC Rapid Transit Company and $3,200 for Coast Mountain Bus Company.
