SkyTrain Expo Line shutdown: TransLink responds as service resumes
Thousands of commuters stranded after bird's nest catches fire and incinerates a metre of cable
Metro Vancouver commuters received an apology from TransLink CEO Doug Allen after a SkyTrain shutdown created havoc for thousands trying to get to work Friday morning.
TransLink said that the system was back up and running, albeit with continued delays.
Allen said a "freak incident" was to blame for halting the Expo Line for over 12 hours. Around 11 p.m. Thursday, a spark from a grinder being used for routine maintenance ignited a bird's nest, causing a fire that burned through almost a metre of vital cable.
Allen praised commuters for their "calm, orderly and responsible" response to the transit chaos, and also thanked the media for getting the word out about the disruption.
The decision to make transit free for the rest of the day and reimburse pass and ticket-holders was the right thing to do, Allen said, noting that TransLink customers' time is "priceless."
'We did our best'
Asked whether the backup bus plan for the morning commute had been sufficient, Allen said that 33 extra buses were put on the road, more than three times the number provided in the past.
TransLink will be checking for other birds' nests throughout the system and looking into safety issues around sparks, Allen said.
"Do we have challenges from time to time? Yes," he said. "We did our best today."
- Read our live blog of the morning's commute below.