Skytrain is the rapid transit network for the greater Vancouver metro area. Consisting of three lines and 53 stations, the network is the longest rapid transit system in Canada and one of the longest fully automated rapid transit systems in the world. The system primarily runs on elevated track with underground sections in the downtown area and a handful of short at-grade segments. Daily weekday ridership is around 550,000.
First showcased at the 1986 World Exposition, the original Expo Line ran from uptown New Westminster to central Vancouver. Since then it has been expanded to Downtown Vancouver and the suburbs in Surrey (via a transit only bridge). Most of the system is built above former BC Electric Railway right of way and the downtown sections makes use of acquired Canadian Pacific Railway tunnels to reduce construction costs. The Expo Line is the busiest of the three lines as it runs through major developed areas and connects key commercial and residental centers.
The Millennium Line was the first major expansion and opened in 2000. The Line splits at Columbia station in New Westminster and loops back through Coquitlam and Burnaby and connects with the Expo Line at Broadway station, a major transit hub.
The next major expansion was the Canada Line. Completed in 2010 for the Winter Olympic Games, it connects downtown Vancouver to central Richmond and Vancouver International Airport. The construction of the Canada Line was mired in many controversies owing to its public-private (:disgost:) funding and scandals involving the contractors. The system was also built using a different power system that made it incompatible with the existing network, and requiring its own fleet of trains and a separate maintenance facility. (Capitalism breeds efficiency)
Since 2010 there have been three major extensions proposed. The Evergreen extension was completed in 2016 and expanded the Millenium Line into central Coquitlam, the Arbutus extension is currently under construciton and will run under the busy Broadway corridor, and a further extension of the Expo Line into Surrey and Langley is currently being planned.
Unlike many other rapid transit networks, Skytrain is fully automated and uses a moving block around each individual train (in contrast to fixed signal blocks). This allows trains to be signalled very close together (~90 seconds during peak hours) and allows Skytrain to have high on time reliability and relatively high line capacity despite the smaller trains.
Another unusual feature are the trains’ propulsion system. Instead of a conventional electric traction motor, the Skytrain uses linear induction motors (LIMs) to pulls pull the trains along (with the exception of the Canada Line, which uses conventional train motors). Instead of the wheels being powered, a central conducting “rail” generates a magnetic field via eddy currents and drags the train along. Effectively, the train is like a maglev that doesn’t levitate. LIMs do allow trains to go up steeper grades but otherwise is rare in most transit networks because conventional electric motors are robust and have more universal maintenance support. The LIMs also produce a distinctive hum as the train accelerates due to the phase switching of the magnetic coils. This sound is most prominent on the older Mk.1 Innovia metros.
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Monthly Neurodiverse Megathread and [Monthly ND Venting Thread]
The more time goes on the more I realize that living my beliefs means teaching my kids to be criminals. And obviously on Hexbear it’s easy to just go “crime is good” and be done with it, but if I want them to not be kidnapped by some combination of police and social workers, I can’t have them going to school saying that shit. My kids all have massive defiant streaks from our permissive parenting and trying to balance healthy rebellion with a self-awareness about self-preservation is hard. There’s also no model for what age is appropriate to teach them about the more traumatic parts of capitalism. It’s a lot of going with the flow and jumping on teachable moments when they happen
I was just thinking about that while watching my family tell the young cousins things and I'm like "no that's not true, you're filling their heads with lies" to my partner
If you aren't wealthy enough to insulate them in a wealthy suburb with SAT prep, therapy, tutoring and all that other shit they're going to wind up being messed up by the consequences of capitalism somehow anyway
I personally wouldn't raise kids that way, let them be kids. Stamp out shit like racism or shitty attitudes towards the poor and etc. and let them figure it out for themselves. I think they probably will, given how shit everything is for young people these days
Yeah I mean I’m not reading them Mao for bedtime. The anti-bigotry is already plenty of work. But some of the stuff can be useful. Like I had a whole thing where my oldest was upset about never being able to play the claw machine, so I broke down and gave them $10 and they still didn’t get anything. So then I just bought them a stuffy and we talked about how the people who made the machines aren’t being fair when they make them. They fully expected that, if they didn’t get anything out of the machine, they’d get that money back. Through that conversation they essentially learned what gambling is and why we don’t let kids do it, which is something I’ve had a hard time explaining before. I wouldn’t have expected to have to explain that to a child but almost all video games for children are stuffed with gambling mechanics now