All generations of the SkyTrain car fleet to be modified to reduce noise

Different generations of SkyTrain cars: Mark I, Mark II (early 2000s), and an artistic rendering of the future Mark V. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive | TransLink)

To date, TransLink’s efforts with reducing excess noise on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines have primarily focused on maintaining and replacing aging railway infrastructure.

And now, as an additional measure to reduce noise further, the public transit authority is looking to make a relatively simple modification to all generations of SkyTrain cars on the Expo and Millennium lines.

Essentially, new equipment called Top-of-Rail Friction Modifier (TORFM) tread stick hardware will be installed onto the wheels of the SkyTrain cars. By using the tread sticks to maintain an optimal level of friction where the wheels meet the running rails, this upgrade serves to improve the condition of the running rails over the long term, and to reduce noise.

You might also like:

“This new equipment will help to prevent rail corrugation growth, which will help to reduce long-term noise,” Dan Mountain, a spokesperson for TransLink, told Daily Hive Urbanized, adding that tests of the equipment found that it could reduce noise by up to nine decibels.

Top-of-Rail Friction Modifier TORFM tread stick

Example of a Top-of-Rail Friction Modifier tread stick on a train wheel. Not the actual design for SkyTrain. (LBFoster)

Currently, only a small portion of the existing fleet — the old Mark I trains from the 1980s and early 1990s and a portion of the Mark II trains — have varying designs of such equipment onboard. But TransLink recently discovered that the design of the existing hardware on the trains with tread sticks was not the most suitable for SkyTrain’s operations and maintenance regime, and as a result, its “effectiveness is considered low or negligible.”

Other forms of TORFM equipment can also be installed onto the tracks, but after a study, TransLink determined the mounted tread-stick applicators to be the most practicable solution.

The public transit authority intends to install the tread sticks on the existing Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III cars, and the future incoming fleet of new generation Mark V cars.

A short-term tread stick solution is targeted for the Mark I, as these old cars will be incrementally fully retired between 2024 and 2027.

SkyTrain Mark I cars. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

SkyTrain Mark II cars. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

SkyTrain Mark III cars. (TransLink)

2023 updated artistic rendering of the future Mark V SkyTrain car. (TransLink)

Between Summer 2023 and April 2024, a tread stick will be designed for each car type, with testing conducted between November 2023 and March 2024. Installation on the fleet for all car types will begin in June 2024, with the first phase of installation on the Mark III, Mark II, and remaining Mark I cars complete by December 2025.

By December 2027, installation will also be complete on the new Mark V cars, which will become the dominant generation of SkyTrain cars on the Expo and Millennium lines by 2028, when all 205 Mark V cars (41 five-car trains) arrive.

In addition to the full retirement of the Mark I cars later this decade, TransLink has indicated the initial batch of Mark II cars from the early 2000s will also be retired starting in the early 2030s.

In recent years, TransLink has acknowledged excess SkyTrain noise on the Expo and Millennium lines has been a growing issue. Its major measures to date include replacing aging rail with harder steel rail, adding and improving rail friction modifiers and rail dampers throughout the system, rail-grinding across the network, new switch maintenance procedures to reduce noise that occurs when a train travels over a switch, and working with developers to build better noise mitigation designs for new developments in close proximity to SkyTrain’s outdoor guideways.

As well, new generations of SkyTrain cars are also generally quieter for both passengers onboard the trains and for the areas where the trains run through.

SkyTrain noise near VCC-Clark, Commercial-Broadway, and Nanaimo stations. (TransLink)

You might also like: