Next train information set to arrive on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium Lines
Next train information set to arrive on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium Lines
Say ‘goodbye’ to the red LED signs on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium Lines, and get ready to say ‘hello’ to coloured signs with real-time transit information! That means you’ll know exactly when your train is coming, upcoming trains and where they’re going.
These new signs will be an upgrade to what customers currently see on the Evergreen Extension and Canada Line, and they will continue to improve over the coming year through additional software upgrades.
Work begins at Lougheed and Edmonds stations this month, with work continuing at remaining Expo and Millennium Line stations (excluding the Evergreen Extension) through 2020.
In total, we’re adding approximately 280 new customer information signs, including these ‘next train’ signs on platforms as well as new SkyTrain status signs outside the station – the first exterior station signs on the system.
*Renderings are for illustrative purposes only.
It’s all part of the SkyTrain Customer Communications Upgrades project to provide better real-time service information for customers – new information signs, better sounding announcements, and more security measures at 33 SkyTrain stations along the Expo and Millennium Lines.
Aside from the ‘next train’ signs, we’re replacing nearly 1,000 speakers along the original Millennium Line, optimizing existing speakers on the Expo Line, and adding approximately 324 speakers (including station entrance speakers) to improve sound.
We’re also replacing and adding station cameras, including guideway (the track) cameras to improve safety and reduce delays when guideway intrusion alarms are triggered.
As well, the program will install new cameras to provide more visibility to guideways and improve TransLink’s ability to quickly check into the cause of alarms triggered on guideways.
The numbers
Real-time digital signage
- 140 new ‘next train’ signs on platforms
- 140 new information signs outside SkyTrain station entrances and on platforms
Better sound in stations and on trains
- 1,000 new speakers along the Millennium Line
- 320 speakers in stations and at designated entrances
- Enhancing the Expo Line speakers
Better visibility on platforms and guideways
- 1,200 CCTV platform cameras improving safety and security
- 265 guideway cameras reducing delays when intrusion alarms are triggered
All these improvements will roll out station-by-station until the entire Expo and Millennium Lines are upgraded.
Construction impacts will vary depending on the station, and we thank our customers and neighbours for their patience while we make these significant improvements.
Good to see Expo and the original Millennium stations get what Evergreen and Canada had for a while. These will be very helpful, especially at Columbia and Lougheed.
Hopefully there will be a sign at Columbia for people heading up and around to the eastbound platform (there’s one for down and around now, and of course a sign above the platform itself, but up and around would also be helpful).
I understand not wanting to replace the perfectly functional signs on the Evergreen extension, but I hate to see the continued perpetuation of inconsistency across the system :(
I wish they would install two sineages on each end of the platform instead of one on the center. It is too hard for me to see the one in the center when it is a rush hour or the platform is packed with people
For the inbound Expo Line platform (3) at Commercial-Broadway Station, will the display distinguish between 2-car trains and full-length trains? Some people will less likely squeeze onto a packed full-length train if they know the next train is an empty 2-car train. Conversely, people in a rush will spread along the full length of the platform if the next approaching train is a full-length train.