This is an
emergency condition in
Skytrain lingo that indicates an
unauthorized indiviudual on the
guideway. The correct response to a
red tango condition is to enable a
work zone for the area entered so that trains may not enter the area and possibly flatten the intruder. The second step is to enable a
power isolation zone for the
work zone, thus making sure that the intruder cannot harm themselves on the power rails. Third, a
PTE authorization is sent to a
Skytrain official, allowing them to enter the guideway and persue the intruder.
With that out of the way, I'd like to relate a little red tango story of my own:
There was a poor elderly lady at Columbia Station inbound, she must've been about seventy or eighty years old. She looked very confused and disoriented, not quite sure of where she was. Then, as a enlightened expression came across her face, she stepped down into the guideway and began to walk towards New Westminster Station on the linear inductor rail as if it were the most natural thing to do.
This, of course, set off the yellow tango alarm in the station, automatically setting off an EB (Emergency Brake) on a train already inbound to Columbia from New West. The yellow tango call came out on the radio, and no sooner did that broadcast end when the Skytrain official at Columbia radioed back with red tango. A few seconds later, the power rail was disabled. After that, the official jumped into the rail and ran after the elderly lady. When he finally reached the woman, she had a hard time understanding what was being said, where she was, or what was going on. All she knew was that she had to get to New Westminster Station, because Columbia Station was the wrong station.
After about three to five minutes of coaxing, the lady finally re-entered the station and the red tango alert was stepped down. This, naturally, caused a nice gap in the Skytrain service, and forced the system to stop operating for approximately two or three minutes. The elderly lady was at Columbia Station for about an hour after that talking to the RCMP before they carted her away, presumably to her home.