Are SkyTrain Mk 1 Cars For Sale?

An interesting post in the Toronto Information blog.

For Sale Cheap - Cheaper Than Yesterday

SRT: What To Look Forward To

With the funding deferment pushing back the conversion of the SRT until after 2015, the plan includes buying some used ICTS Mark-I cars from Vancouver.

Want a look at what is in store for us, take a look at this article which details a recent derailment in Surrey. Of course, with drivers on the SRT, the result would not be the same, but we are still talking about purchasing used equipment that has things like brake calipers falling off of it.

It seems that Trans Link is flogging off some Mk 1 cars to Toronto’s SRT (ICTS) Line. What is interesting is that complaints of overcrowding on the Expo and Millennium Line persist, but TransLink refused to operate 6 car trains, during peak periods, which would provide much needed extra capacity.

This begs the question: “Did TransLink purposely created an aura of overcrowding on the two SkyTrain metro Lines in order to persuade regional and provincial politicians to purchase new Mk. 2 metro cars from Bombardier Inc, when in fact overcrowding could have been alleviated by operating 6 – car trains of Mk. 1 stock?”

Obviously the sale of Mk. 1 cars to the TTC has been kept hush hush, for fear of embarrassing questions that be asked.

SkyTrain Derails In Surrey – Is This The Shape Of Things To Come?

TransLink was very lucky that this accident happened at the end of the line in Surrey, with an apparently empty train. A brake caliper fell onto the track and was large enough to derail the next train that passed by. Here lies the Achilles heel of automatic transit systems, they can’t see obstructions on the track and proceed to hit them, sometimes with disastrous results.

TransLink is now operating a fleet of 25 year old vehicles and as with most older transit vehicles, if preventive maintenance is not done more frequently, this sort of thing will happen and with increasing regularity. This should be a wake up call for TransLink, that yes, SkyTrain is railway and derailments do happen and the older fleet of Mk.1 cars will need a more intensive maintenance schedule, which of course will raise operating costs and that is something the cash strapped TransLink doesn’t want .

And now a final niggle at TransLink, if this was LRT and if there was a driver, a piece of scrap metal large enough to derail a SkyTrain car, would have probably have been seen by the driver, who would have stopped the tram, preventing a derailment.

TransLink investigates SkyTrain derailment

By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun

May 28, 2010 3:02 PM

METRO VANCOUVER — TransLink is trying to figure out how one of its SkyTrains lost a piece of its brake on the Expo line tracks Wednesday, leading to the derailment of a second train and the closure of a section of track for five hours.

Doug Kelsey, president of B.C. Rapid Transit Co., said the second train was out of service and pulling into the turnaround section of track — past the King George SkyTrain station — on Wednesday morning when it struck a brake caliper lodged in the track. The collision forced one of the train’s axles to jump out of the track and derail.

 No one was aboard as the train was in the no-passenger zone, Kelsey said, so there was no risk to the public. The train had been travelling between four and eight kilometres an hour.

“This has never happened before, in 25 years,” Kelsey said. “We’re quite perplexed by it.”

Meanwhile, the first train, which had continued on the route, was stopped at either the King George or Surrey Central stations and placed in quarantine, Kelsey said, while the section of track between Gateway and King George stations was closed. A bus bridge set up to ferry passengers to the Surrey Central or King George stations.

The tracks were reopened at 4:05 p.m. just before rush hour.

Kelsey noted the travelling public was never in jeopardy as SkyTrains have a multiple braking system — including an emergency stop mechanism — in each car. The brake caliper was one of the original pieces on the SkyTrain, which has been operating since 1995.

All the trains are inspected every six weeks. The quarantined train was due for an inspection in two weeks’ time, Kelsey saidThe whole fleet has since been inspected and Kelsey said as a precaution the checks will now take place every three weeks.The train will remain in quarantine until technical staff figure out what happened. “We won’t be moving it until we determine what caused [the brake piece to fall off],” he said, but added: “The public is absolutely safe out there.”

http://www.vancouversun.com/TransLink+investigates+SkyTrain+derailment/3084244/story.html