UPDATE: According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, the bear has died from the injuries after being hit by SkyTrain.

ORIGINAL STORY:

SkyTrain’s Millennium Line is currently operating with limited service after a train collided with a bear in Port Moody.

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TransLink spokesperson Jill Drews told Daily Hive the incident occurred at approximately noon, when SkyTrain staff noticed an injured bear near Moody Centre Station. It appears the bear was injured by SkyTrain.

Conservation officers were called to the scene to manage the response and remove the bear from the area. The extent of the bear’s injuries are not known at this time.

Trains running between Moody Centre Station and Coquitlam Central Station are sharing a single track in order to allow conservation officers to do their work. Passengers will need to switch to a shuttle train at Moody Centre Station and Coquitlam Central Station.

Regular service is expected to resume very soon, says Drews.

Large wildlife intrusions onto the tracks are not completely out of the ordinary on the Evergreen Extension, given its relative close proximity to mountain and forest areas.

In 2017, SkyTrain service in the same general area was suspended when two cougars tripped the track intrusion alarm at Inlet Centre Station. They were also spotted on CCTV.

There have also been other bear-related intrusions onto the SkyTrain tracks, but this appears to be a rare occasion of wildlife incurring injuries.

Track intrusion alarms, which are a web of infrared sensors on the Millennium Line, causing the driverless trains to come to a halt if tripped by foreign objects, are only found at the stations. These sensors are not found on tracks outside of the station areas.

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