A technical problem that caused trains to "time out" stopped 17 SkyTrains on both the Millennium Line and Expo Line for two hours Wednesday morning.
TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider says service is now completely restored after the 9:16 a.m. system failure.
Snider says the timeout happened after one train's electric motor had a problem, causing it to lose communication with the central computer system - and automatically shut down. The physical location of the train caused another 16 to shut down.
Snider says the problem usually only affects one or two trains, and a failure this widespread hasn't happened in 10 to 12 years. He says the initial problem train has been removed from service.
Wednesday morning's problems caused massive commuter lineups at SkyTrain stations across the Lower Mainland. Some stations closed their gates to prevent riders from entering the platform area. Many customers were forced to complete their trips by transferring between the "segregated" lines that were still running on the Millennium Line and buses.
Only one section of the Millennium Line - Lougheed to VCC Clark - was not affected by the shutdown.
Vancouver's SkyTrain service moves residents across the region with 33 stations and approximately 50 kilometres of lines in the Lower Mainland.
