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I (kind of) did a review on Mk I and published it on my site, but eventually my site was lost, I think it was hacked. But here’s the review.
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SkyTrain Review: MK I

MK I is the oldest of its kind in the SkyTrain fleet, or whatever you call it. The safety is basic: Emergency intercom to speak to operators, and emergency exit doors between cars. But what I and many dislike are the bench-style seats attached to the walls. It’s comfortable, but uncomfortable in privacy reasons, such as passengers staring at each other, etc. And when the train stops, the passengers sometimes slide on the bench and bump each other.

It’s okay, but not at it’s best.

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Here’s the answers from Ian Graham, the operations manager at SkyTrain.

1. A brief history of SkyTrain train lengths. From the beginning of the operation in January 1986, SkyTrain operated daytime service with 4-car Mark I trains to provide adequate capacity at our target 5-minute frequency. In the early years (post Expo) we operated 2-car trains on Sundays, and some evenings, in order to maintain the 5-minute frequent service off peak without excessive capacity and related vehicle operating cost. I think we phased out the 2-car Sunday operation in around 1988 (give or take) in response to complaints about overcrowding (i.e., success!). Automated coupling and coupling had some limitations (had to be done in the yard, and wasn’t 100% reliable), so the fleet reductions weren’t always consistent.

For many years 4-car trains became our standard because we could operate a frequent service during peak hours — about 150 sec. in the pre-Millennium days with the fleet (114 cars with the initial line to New Westminster; 130 cars after the line was extended to Scott Road in 1990; 150 cars after the King George extension) — without excessive capacity during the evenings and weekends. The opening of GM Place (in whatever year) also brought a big increase in the number of special events (hockey, concerts, and the short-lived trial of basketball) which required extras capacity many evenings. We operated 6-car trains (with reduced frequency) for a time in 1990 due to some technical problems after the extension to Scott Road, but reverted to 4-car service when those were resolved. We have also operated the longer trains for capacity on some occasions when track maintenance (generally on weekends) reduced the operating frequency.

With the acquisition of the initial 60 larger Mark II cars in 2002 as part of the Millennium Line extension we chose to operate them mostly in 2-car trains (capacity ~260 passengers). This was a reasonable match to the 4-car Mark I (~320 passengers), allowing us to provide good off-peak service on both branches of the line (6 minutes each on Surrey and Millennium mid day and evening) and even better service (3 minutes) on the inner portion between Waterfront and Columbia, while sustaining a practical operation during peak hours (55 trains in service, with a 108 sec. between Waterfront and Columbia).

With the recent fleet expansion of 48 cars to accommodate ridership growth we have reconfigured most of the Mark II’s (new and old) into 4-car trains to provide more capacity with the same number of trains (55) at the same headway (108 sec.). You will now also see some Mark I’s running in 6-car formation. It’s not a perfect balance of train size, but is the most practical way of delivering maximum overall capacity during peak hours, within a manageable service. With plans for an additional 24 cars at some point (subject to TransLink’s funding capacity) we will likely further increase the number of 6-car Mark I’s in the overall ripple effect of maximizing the number of cars in service and overall service to our passengers.

2. The carpets were replaced in 1992. They actually lasted for several years, which was longer than anyone expected (and yes, they were the originals except for minor repairs). Nice when they were new, but it goes without much explanation that it was a challenge in the grime and wet of Vancouver to keep them respectably clean. They were pretty grubby at the end; we didn’t save any samples for museum display! The current flooring has stood up well, considering that each of those 114 cars (all still in service, by the way, with 4 million kilometres apiece, and counting) would have carried around 5 million passengers (yes, each) since then.

3. The red seats? Well, tastes change, and the alternating red and blue seemed rather garish, so the reds were phased out through a combination of normal wear and vandalism. Some of the red seats were painted blue with a vinyl paint to avoid an uncoordinated mish-mash of colour. (You will still see marks of red peeking through the blue on some seats – we didn’t toss out good vinyl just for a colour change.) The red door panels have remained, although car 35 was given a trial mini-makeover about a year ago, replacing those panels with a toned down colour — watch for it if you are a regular rider. (No hidden political agenda on the colour change – an initiative by our maintenance department to see what could be accomplished for a few bucks.) Who knows what the colour fashion will be by 2030 when our latest cars are two decades old?

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Before the Expo Line was extended past Scott Road Station, trains ran almost exclusively in two-car pairs except during high peak hours and major events such as Expo 86, when four-car trains were used. Increased ridership following the phase III extension of the Expo Line to King George changed train configurations to an increased usage of four-car units, with two-car units being used during early morning and late evening low passenger volumes. Six-car configurations were introduced for special events and usage under BC Transit’s snow-plan operations. Following the opening of the Millennium Line, two-car pairs ceased revenue service due to an incapacity to handle Vancouver’s rapidly growing population and expanding ridership. Two-car “single/married” pairs now only occur when train sets must be separated because of technical complications, during track testing, or when trains undergo servicing and repair work at the Edmonds Operations Yard in Burnaby. Following the expansion of the fleet of Mark II cars in 2010, Mark I trains are expected to be operated mainly in a six-car configuration as opposed to the current four-car configuration.

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Also, when were the carpets removed.. do photos still exist of those? And same question about the red seats… why did they disappear?

Sorry for being caught in 1986 upstairs, its just so few of us lived in Vancouver when SkyTrain was brand new.. and there is nothing on the internet concering photos of it being built, or what it was like during the 80s etc… it would make for some really good historical interest if anything.

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