With another round of snow in the forecast for Thursday and Friday in Metro Vancouver, TransLink says it has planned ahead and is prepared to keep people moving during stormy weather.

A key point of concern, according to transit company officials, is keeping electricity connected to SkyTrain and trolley buses when snow and ice builds up along the system.

SkyTrain

"The weak link, as in all transit systems around the world that are rail based, is getting the power," said Chris Morris, director of engineering for SkyTrain.

"We've taken eight of our cars and converted them so they can be used on short notice as anti-icing trains."

The cars are equipped with tanks of ethylene glycol that is pumped and sprayed at targeted areas along the Expo, Millennium and Evergreen lines.

The converted SkyTrain cars are equipped with a drum full of anti-icing fluid and a hose to move it to a pump that sprays as necessary. (Belle Puri/CBC )

"There's an operator on board and he has been instructed where actually to apply the deicing compound at areas where they're having trouble," said Morris.

It takes two hours for the specialized trains to cover the entire system and Morris said it's likely they will run overnight Thursday to ensure a smooth Friday morning rush hour if the predicted snowfall materializes.

Trolley buses

The transit system's overhead trolley wire system is very sensitive to weather, according to Richard Haukka, assistant manager for maintenance for Coast Mountain Bus Company.

"We actually coat the wire with a glycerin and the glycerin actually prevents the ice from forming on the wires," said Haukka.

"This is actually done as a preventative measure. We do it beforehand, before the ice hits."

A fleet of three trucks takes six hours to coat 300 kilometres of overhead trolley wire with glycerin to prevent ice buildup. (Belle Puri/CBC )

A fleet of three trucks is out nightly during extreme winter weather conditions treating the 300 kilometres of overhead wires.

The process takes six hours, according to Haukka, and one application can last two to three days.

Last storm

While trolley buses had considerable delays during Monday's snowfall, SkyTrain officials say they ran "an almost flawless full rush hour service."

"We sent these anti-icing trains out on Sunday night to coat the rails in the areas of expected problems," said Morris.

"We did have a 20-minute delay but that was not related to weather. It was a train that timed out because of a computer problem and that could happen in the summer."

TransLink encourages riders to plan ahead and to check Twitter and the alerts page on its webpage for the latest information about routes and delays.