Computer problems cause major SkyTrain disruptions
Posted July 17, 2014 7:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS1130) – There were major delays across the SkyTrain system Thursday afternoon.
A more than three-hour shutdown extended well into the evening after a computer problem.
The Millennium line was down between Braid and Sapperton and the Expo line stopped between Royal Oak and King George. There was limited service from Waterfront to Metrotown station as well as Lougheed to VCC-Clark station.
A bus bridge between Metrotown and King George where there was no service was jammed.
TransLink advised customers to use the existing bus network as the bus bridge was not as reliable.
Riders even broke out of one train, forcing the doors open and walking along the side of the track.
SkyTrain president Fred Cummings later apologized to riders.
“Our heartfelt apologies. This is not something we anticipate happening.”
But, he says breaking out of the train is not the answer.
“Beyond the illegality of something like that, they’re putting their life at risk. It’s extremely dangerous to get out of the train. They didn’t know that other equipment could be running on the other track. The tracks were energized at the time. We actually had to shut down the power once we found out the train had been broken out of.”
And that power shutdown caused further delays.
“It made it that much more difficult to rescue the trains with the people on-board. To get them back into the station, we had to get the power down and then re-energize that section of track. And it all takes time to do that so we could have done it quicker.”
He says the problem could not have been anticipated.
“It has never happened before, this type of failure. I don’t want to make excuses but we absolutely apologize for the impact we had to our loyal customers and their families who were impacted.”
That apology came as little comfort to those on the platform.
“We actually did a show tonight and we had a whole bunch of audience members not be able to show up because of it so we almost had to cancel our show,” says one woman boarding a train at the Main Street Science World station after things were back to normal.
Others gave up.
“Honestly only about 25 minutes. I walked, I decided to walk,” says one man leaving the same station at the end of a long day.
