Questions remain about the rest of the season for the Stanley Park Christmas Train following a safety incident on Friday night.
“One of our drivers who operates the train was just experiencing a little bit of sickness,” Steve Jackson, the general manager of the Vancouver Park Board told Global News.
“So they received some medical attention and some oxygen and were taken to hospital.”
Operations are now suspended while the Park Board investigates if there is something wrong with the train’s exhaust, saying drivers have been reporting issues with the old diesel engines, which they’ve been trying to mitigate.
“So we’ve had more drivers on shift,” Jackson said. “We’ve been operating one going through the track, then they would take two shifts off so that they had a chance to get some proper air and oxygen.
“(I’m) not sure what the difference was on Friday night until we look into that a bit further.”
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Tickets are being refunded until Wednesday, but at this stage it’s not known when or if the train could be running again.
Jackson said they will figure it out on Monday and Tuesday what the plan is and if they can resume operations, they will do everything they can.
It’s the latest in a series of issues this holiday season. On Dec. 3, less than a week after opening, one locomotive was temporarily out of service.
On Dec. 6, the whole train was out of service.
On Dec. 12, one locomotive was out of service due to staff illness, impacting availability.
“We know this is this is becoming a bit of a theme and we don’t like it just as much as our customers don’t,” Jackson said.
The Bright Lights Concourse is still open and parking is free after 3 p.m.
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