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OMG Snow?


CanucksFan415

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Question: how come the canada line breaks down but the older lines (expo and millenium) can kinda handle the snow?

The Canada Line is built with a different track technology than the Expo and Millennium Lines. The C-Line uses standard third rail, commonly used worldwide by almost all metro systems.

Standard third rail involves two tracks for steel wheels to run on, and with a third rail on the side to supply power to the train. The trains themselves are like automobiles, requiring lots of moving parts to pull the train forward. That also means it requires friction between the track and steel wheels.

Whereas, the Expo/Millennium Line use a proprietary Bombardier technology called ALRT or ART. It involves a system with four tracks: two tracks for the steel wheels, a third track on the side for power, and a fourth track down the middle of the track and it's actually a magnet/linear induction plate. The linear induction plate on the track and the train's linear induction motor push the trains (there's a 1 millimetre space between the plate and train). The Expo/M-Line trains require few moving parts (it also explains why the track is more shallow when you're standing on the platform, there aren't that many moving parts unlike the Canada Line).

And because there are less moving parts and because it doesn't rely on friction, the Expo/Millennium Line are less affected by snow. In addition, Translink manually drives the trains when there's heavy snow. I'm not sure if InTransitBC does this for the Canada Line, but it certainly is unacceptable that the system has to shut down whenever there's a little snow...even when they said the issues would be resolved.

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I think the Canada Line is showing us why it isn't always good to go with the lowest bid.

...or a competitive bidding process for that matter. They should have really just gone with Bombardier and their ALRT/ART technology like the rest of SkyTrain......much faster acceleration, able to run quickly around turns, small turning angles yet quick speeds, etc...or maybe we're just spoiled lol. The Expo/Millennium system is actually one of the fastest metro systems out there.

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...or a competitive bidding process for that matter. They should have really just gone with Bombardier and their ALRT/ART technology like the rest of SkyTrain......much faster acceleration, able to run quickly around turns, small turning angles yet quick speeds, etc...or maybe we're just spoiled lol. The Expo/Millennium system is actually one of the fastest metro systems out there.

As in non-subway systems, right?

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As in non-subway systems, right?

Based on average speed, not the train's max. speed capability.

The Canada Line is just embarrassingly slow, especially around the Queen Elizabeth Park section where it turns to avoid volcanic rock. They could have really done some more work to the track, so that trains can run much faster along those turns and so that there's less screeching. Those tracks along that section are going to need a lot of maintenance, and I'm sure it's not that great for the train's wheels either.

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