If you’re not reading the Vancouver 24 Hours newspaper, you’re missing good stuff. The freebie paper often breaks stories about Vancouver City Hall and TransLink that other media miss.

Today’s lead story is a great example. 24 Hours obtained a copy of a SkyTrain rail safety report which showed TransLink’s shoddy maintenance record led to 557 defects on the Expo line track. From Michael Mui’s story:

TransLink could end up spending more than $50 million to replace nearly half its Expo Line tracks after a damning consultant’s report identified a whopping 557 defects on the tracks — causing the report author to exclaim, “holy smokes!”

The report suggests TransLink improperly diagnosed Expo Line wear and tear, and its past practices to repair tracks had been “reactive” and infrequent.

Both the author and TransLink’s own engineers identified the damage as being due — in part — to improperly conducting a maintenance procedure called “rail grinding” to smooth out the tracks.

“Such defects are not expected on an advanced light axle system. Deferral of maintenance -> costly catch-up. Must develop and be disciplined in following a preventative maintenance regime,” wrote the author, Eric Magel, an engineer with the National Research Council Canada.

“Know that several rails have been changed out already, some twice.”

Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about TransLink waste. Some of them are big dollar amounts, some smaller. But it’s stuff like this that is the most concerning to me. TransLink proving itself incapable of managing and maintaining the billions of dollars’ worth of assets we’ve trusted them with.

Some TransLink apologists will cry poor, claiming it was a lack of money that caused the company to screw up basic maintenance. But that’s a lie, and circles back to my point on waste. If TransLink wasn’t wasting money in so many stupid ways, there would have been plenty of dough for this.

Good on Michael Mui and 24 Hours for digging this out. And shame on TransLink for not respecting taxpayers enough to properly care for the Expo line.