“Stay calm,” says Translink, in face of passengers prying open doors

VANCOUVER — It’s happened three times in just over a month; SkyTrain riders pried open the doors and walked away from a stalled train on Friday.

The initial delay on the Expo and Millennium lines should have been about ten minutes, but instead frustrated commuters ended up waiting for an hour.

Translink officials blame the few passengers who forced the doors of a problem train open and walked away for the extended delay.

“It’s extremely dangerous. The power was of course still on the tracks when they were prying open the doors and getting onto the guide-way,” Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan told Global News. “There is a 600-volt charge, as we’ve been saying over and over again recently, along the side of the tracks.”

The delay happened at the height of rush hour yesterday. A train with four cars lost power between the Scott Road and Gateway Stations, with a second train stopping behind them. Translink announced to passengers the problem was temporary, but surveillance videos show up to 150 passengers left the trains. And they did so before the power system had been shut down.

“If you inadvertently touch that part of the track with your foot, you will be electrocuted, and it’s probably going to be fatal,” said Drennan.

“People need to be patient and they need to stay calm,” said Colleen Brennan of TransLink.

Transit Police say that anyone found forcing open SkyTrain doors – unless there is evidence of imminent danger – face fines of $200.

–With files from Julia Foy.