Passengers on SkyTrain got the ride of their lives Saturday afternoon when they were forced to take the trip with the doors open.
The train was leaving the New Westminster Station, heading towards 22nd Street at 4:45 p.m., when at least three doors failed to close. Passengers had nothing between them, the track and the distant ground below the rail.
Drew Snider of TransLink said technicians repairing cars at the front of train at the time had allowed it to run in manual mode, and had bypassed the alarms that usually notify staff that the doors haven't closed.
He added that TransLink had a platform camera video of a passenger forcing the doors open and then trying to close them again but failing. The train was taken out of service at the 22nd Street Station.
"In that particular spot the train had to be driven because of an electrical problem," said Snider, adding that the staff member driving the train did not see the open doors.
"There's a lot of other questions that need to be answered, so we can't speculate at this time."
Snider called the incident "very, very unusual" and said TransLink was looking into ensuring it never happens again. He told passengers to not try to hold doors open or force them.
In terms of the recent troubles SkyTrain had been experiencing with delays caused by snow and other weather-related problems, Snider said the worst should be over, though there could be problems from melting snow on Monday.
"I think we're out of it. The temperature is warming up, but not as much as we were fearing, which is good. We've taken care of the various weather-related electrical problems that we were experiencing," he said.
