Editor’s note: If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, there are a number of ways to get help, including by calling or texting the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 988. The helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A list of local crisis centres is also available here. Most incidents involving people making physical contact with the SkyTrain are unintentional, according to an analysis of 10 years of data released by TransLink and Technical Safety B.C. this week. The study looked at the 122 safety incidents involving contact with trains that occurred between 2016 and 2025. Nearly two-thirds of those incidents (63 per cent, or 77 total incidents) took place on the guideway, what most people think of as the “tracks.” The rest (37 per cent, or 45 total incidents) took place on the platform, though the report notes that “an incident that begins on the platform can quickly escalate into a guideway incident, where the likelihood of serious injury is substantially higher.” Indeed, guideway incidents were significantly more likely to be fatal. Thirty-six of the 77, or 47 per cent, were fatal, compared to just one of the 45 platform incidents (about two per cent). Guideway incidents were also more likely to be classified as “intentional” in the study. “Determining whether contact with a train was intentional or unintentional can be challenging,” the analysis reads. “The ability to distinguish between the two is limited, as incident descriptions are based solely on observations.” The study counts 48 guideway incidents (62 per cent of the total) as intentional, with the vast majority of those “attributed to suicidal behaviours.” Two per cent of guideway incidents “appeared to involve malicious intent.” Still, a substantial proportion of guideway incidents (38 per cent, 29 total incidents) were deemed unintentional, as were the vast majority (87 per cent, or 39 incidents) of platform incidents. Taken together, the number of cases of unintentional contact with trains was higher than the number of cases of intentional contact. Fifty-six per cent of incidents were unintentional, compared to 44 per cent that were intentional. Incidents also became more frequent near the end of the sample, according to the report. Looking at just the Expo and Millennium lines, the number of cases of human-SkyTrain contact per 100,000 riders peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, when ridership plummeted. The rate of incidents has remained elevated relative to pre-pandemic rates, however, with the report highlighting twice as many incidents per 100,000 riders on the Expo and Millennium lines between 2023 and 2025 as there were between 2016 and 2019. “Our safety data shows a troubling increase in incidents where individuals have come into contact with a SkyTrain,” said Derek Patterson, Technical Safety B.C.’s vice-president of regulatory leadership and corporate secretary, in a news release announcing the data. “We must work together to influence better safety outcomes. We are partnering with TransLink to share this data so we can educate the public, prevent future tragedies, and save lives.” The two agencies shared the following important safety reminders for the public: TransLink added that previous studies found “platform screen doors” to be incompatible with the SkyTrain system. The agency said it is now “reassessing the technology” to see whether “newer solutions” can be implemented. “Safety is our top priority, and we are continually looking at ways to strengthen protections across the SkyTrain system,” said Kevin Quinn, TransLink’s CEO, in the release. “While our systems and procedures are designed to keep people safe, we know these incidents can have devastating impacts on the people involved, their loved ones, our employees and first responders. This work is about continuing to look for every opportunity to reduce those incidents and their impact.”
