TransLink promises to act on 20 SkyTrain review recommendations

The independent review into this year's two largest SkyTrain shutdowns has delivered 20 recommendations, which are estimated to cost $71 million to implement.

TransLink is promising to act on all of the recommendations in former GO Transit president Gary McNeil's report.

“Customers had every right to be angry and frustrated, especially those who were stuck on trains for a prolonged period in the heat. We must make sure that never happens again,” TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis said in a news release.

The report's recommendations include the following:

• "Changing the current guideway intrusion technology should substantially reduce the frequency of unnecessary delays caused by small object intrusion into the guideway area at stations."
• "TransLink should have a single radio frequency, so all transit system elements of TransLink (including the Transit Police and the Canada Line) can communicate during a major emergency."
• "During a SkyTrain emergency, it is important that messaging get out to all bus drivers feeding the SkyTrain stations so they can notify bus passengers immediately of the service disruption."
• "When a major delay occurs that requires evacuation, power needs to be shut-off to the effected guideway area as soon as practical. This will allow all available TransLink staff (STAs [SkyTrain attendants] and others) to assist in evacuation of passengers from trains (especially in hot weather conditions)."
• "During evacuation (whether controlled or not), there is a need for better identification of the walkway area of the guideway when lighting levels are low, or to assist individuals with poor peripheral vision or depth perception."
• "High profile, good quality cameras pointed down the guideway would assist in identifying vehicle numbers/train locations, as well as discerning if passengers are on the guideway during self-evacuation."
• "The Passenger Announcement (PA) audio quality is inconsistent across vehicles and stations.... It is recommended that a study be undertaken to take the necessary steps to upgrade these vital public communication channels."
• "It is possible, using the existing bus scrolling technology, to scroll SkyTrain service disruption information along with regular bus route information."

TransLink says it will take up to five years to complete the work outlined in the report.

The full report has been posted on the TransLink website.