How They Get Ice Off The SkyTrain Doors In Vancouver Is The Most Canadian Solution Ever

With the winter weather in B.C. comes some very icy train doors, but TransLink employees have a solution! The hockey stick. Could they be any more Canadian?

In a blog post, TransLink said that even though Metro Vancouver has a pretty tame winter, they still needed to get creative with de-icing the doors on the SkyTrain.

In addition to using specific tires and other protections against the winter weather, they "also use hockey sticks to clear snow and ice build-up from the SkyTrain doors," they said on the blog.

One SkyTrain vehicle technologist, Art Wittich, said in the blog post that people tend to laugh about the classic Canadian creativity, but it's effective.

The blog post also explained that "snow in Metro Vancouver is uniquely wet, thick and heavy, it can build up between the SkyTrain doors from it opening and closing."

"This can lead to the doors freezing shut between stations, which means customers may not be able to board or disembark at their preferred door," it added.

The hockey sticks come in when they have to clear out the snow before anything gets stuck.

Wanna catch them in action? The post said that they clear the doors at Stadium–Chinatown, Commercial–Broadway, Edmonds, Gateway, Production Way–University and Moody Centre stations.

At each station, there are eight hockey sticks ready to keep the trains moving effectively. The post added that "at any given time, there's 48 hockey sticks clearing snow and ice."

They didn't always use hockey sticks, though. They started clearing the ice off the doors first with a piece of aluminum, and then a thin piece of wood — but neither was a perfect solution.

"Then somebody had the brainiac idea," Wittich said in the blog post. "The hockey stick is perfect."

So on your next public transit trip, keep your eye out for the hockey sticks!