To continue using your Wikia account/username on this wiki and to regain your contributions please read the instructions found here.
Please don't create a new account until you have read the instructions. Other users: logging in will remove this notice.
Black Mesa Transit System
|
|
For other uses, see Black Mesa (disambiguation). |
|
This article would greatly benefit from the addition of one or more new images. |
|---|---|
Please upload one or several relevant images (from canonical / official sources) and place it here. Once finished, this notice may be removed. |
| |
| Black Mesa Transit System | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Constructed |
N/A |
| Destroyed |
200-, during the Black Mesa Incident |
| Location | |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Affiliation | |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
|
- "Good morning and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel."
- ―Black Mesa Announcement System[src]
The Black Mesa Transit System is the extensive monorail network linking the many different Sectors of the Black Mesa Research Facility. The Transit System is the primary form of transportation throughout the facility, which uses the monorail system, a transportation system based on a single beam. Provided for the security, comfort and convenience of the Black Mesa personnel, residents and visitors,[1][2] it is managed by the Black Mesa Transit Authority.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Overview
- Each train consists of a single monorail car driven automatically. It includes seats, a wheelchair space, windows, speakers and an electric door.
- The Transit System is prominently featured in Half-Life and its expansions. Black Mesa employees use it to travel from their dormitories to their workplace, do their laundry, entertain themselves in recreation areas, or eat in food courts.
- The protagonists of the game use the Transit System before and after the Black Mesa Incident to get around the facility. Gordon Freeman and Barney Calhoun for example ride a tram to work from their dormitories shortly before the incident. Adrian Shephard also briefly hitches a ride on a damaged tram before being left behind by the USMC.
- The Black Mesa Transit System should not be confused with the Sector E Materials Transport, the dilapidated freight monorail network.
[edit] Lines and other areas
The network is divided in four colored lines linking the seven main Sectors, as well as other areas, and sub-lines. Each line serves three or four areas.[2]
[edit] Main colored lines
[edit] Red Line
[edit] Blue Line
[edit] Green Line
- Level 1 Main Facility Entrance
- Sector E Biodome Complex
- Area 7 Recreational Facilities
- Sector A Training Facility
[edit] Yellow Line
[edit] Sub-lines
Each Sector has apparently its line, a sub-line to the overall network. Only three are seen/mentioned during the games:
[edit] Sector B Line
A medium-security line where can be found the Area 9 Security Checkpoint, it is the line taken by Barney Calhoun from Area 8 Topside Dormitories through the East Personnel Entrance, and leading to Area 9 Central Transit Hub. Along Sector B Line can be seen a fast food outlet, a lab, and a lavomat.[2]
[edit] East Personnel Entrance
Connects Area 8 Topside Dormitories to the rest of the facility through the Transit System. Above it floats an orange flag of Black Mesa. Its name suggests there are other such entrances.[2]
[edit] Area 9 Security Checkpoint
Likely located not far from Area 9 Central Transit Hub, Area 9 Security Checkpoint is first seen during Barney Calhoun's tram ride at the start of Blue Shift. There Barney Calhoun leaves the line he took at Area 8 Topside Dormitories to the Sector C Line. Area 9 Security Checkpoint apparently acts as one of the many transit security checkpoints throughout the Transit System. Trams that pass through that checkpoint can be rerouted to the Sector B, C and E Lines.[2]
[edit] Sector C Line
A medium-security line, it is connected to Area 9 Security Checkpoint, Level 3 Dormitories, Area 3 Medium Security Facilities, and Test Labs. Gordon Freeman and Barney Calhoun take it to reach their respective workplaces on the day of the Black Mesa Incident, Barney from Area 9 Security Checkpoint, Gordon from Level 3 Dormitories.[1][2] Before the Test Labs stop, the line passes beside another, leading to Level A of Sector E Subsurface Transport, and taken by Adrian Shephard after leaving the Infirmary.[3]
[edit] Sector E Line
Connected to Area 9 Security Checkpoint, it is located below the Sector B Line and above the Sector C Line. Its directions are unknown.[2]
[edit] Sector E Subsurface Transport
Level A of this Black Mesa Transit System section can be accessed from Sector C Line, where the G-Man is first seen in Half-Life, and leads to an unnamed area where the first Shock Trooper and zombie security guards are encountered.[3]
[edit] Other
[edit] Area 9 Central Transit Hub
Also named "Area 9 Transit Hub",[2] Area 9 Central Transit Hub[1] is only mentioned and never actually visited. It is apparently the only Transit System station where high-security trains can be boarded. Area 9 Central Transit Hub is also the original final destination of the tram used by Barney Calhoun through Sector B Line, before it is rerouted to Sector C Line. It is connected to the Blue Line of the Black Mesa Transit System.[4]
[edit] Behind the scenes
Half-Life and Blue Shift start on a tram that the player cannot leave before reaching the intended destination. This obligatory ride is mostly used to slowly immerse the player into the universe. Half-Life 2 was originally to start similarly, with a longer train ride at the start through the Wasteland and parts of City 17. The idea was eventually used for the path from the City 17 Trainstation to Kleiner's Lab, this time made so that the story would unfold at the player's own speed rather than on a fixed rail.[5]
[edit] Gallery
[edit] Half-Life
Inside a typical tram in the Black Mesa Transit System.
Barney Calhoun knocking on the Area 3 Security Facilities door along the tracks.
The G-Man standing in a tram with a scientist.
Freight monorail without tracks passing by.
A Loader about the repair a radioactive leak under the tracks.
[edit] Half-Life: Opposing Force
Early Opposing Force screenshot, including an "Otis" security guard, a Vortigaunt and the Barnacle Gun.
The same spot where the Loader is seen in Half-Life, now with the leak vaguely repaired.
[edit] Half-Life: Blue Shift
The East Personnel Entrance at Area 8 Topside Dormitories.
Fast food outlet seen by Barney Calhoun along Sector B Line.
Barney Calhoun's ride to Sector C is hindered by a scientist.
Several scientists in a modern laboratory along the Transit System.
Security guard and scientist playing Prax Wars 2: Dante's Revenge in a lavomat along the Transit System.
Ditto.
Scientist shirts waiting to be picked up in a lavomat along the Transit System.
Scientist reading The Mesa Times while waiting for his laundry to be done along the Transit System.
Scientist reading The Mesa Times on a Transit System platform in Sector C.
The G-Man riding a tram between Sector C and G.
[edit] Half-Life: Decay
This article section is in the middle of an expansion or major revamping. |
[edit] List of appearances
- Half-Life (First appearance)
- Half-Life: Opposing Force
- Half-Life: Blue Shift
- Half-Life: Decay
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
[edit] References
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Level 3 Dormitories |
Half-Life story arc journey | Succeeded by Sector C Test Labs |
| Preceded by Black Mesa Medical Lab |
Half-Life: Opposing Force story arc journey | Succeeded by Sector E Materials Transport |
| Preceded by Area 8 Topside Dormitories |
Half-Life: Blue Shift story arc journey | Succeeded by Area 3 Medium Security Facilities |
| Preceded by Sector C Test Labs |
Half-Life: Decay story arc journey (1) | Succeeded by Level 3 Dormitories |
| Preceded by Level 3 Dormitories |
Half-Life: Decay story arc journey (2) | Succeeded by Black Mesa Air Control |
| Vehicles, vessels and transportation | |
|---|---|
| Aperture Science transportation | Borealis |
| Black Mesa transportation | Black Mesa SUV · Black Mesa Transit System · Black Mesa truck |
| Black Ops vehicles | AH-64 Apache · M35 cargo truck |
| HECU vehicles | AH-64 Apache · F-16 Fighting Falcon · M1A1 Abrams · M2A3 Bradley · M35 cargo truck · V-22 Osprey |
| Combine vehicles | Advisor Platform · Armored Personnel Carrier · Hunter-Chopper · Razor Train |
| Resistance vehicles | Airboat · Mil Mi-8 · Muscle Car · Scout Car |
| Trainstations | City 17 Trainstation · Depot · Technical Trainstation |
| Other | Rail transport · Road transport |
| Black Ops (cut) | V-22 Osprey |
| Combine (cut) | AirEx Truck · C-130 · Combine SWAT Truck · M2A3 Bradley · Merkava · School Bus · V-22 Osprey |
| HECU (cut) | F-117 Nighthawk |
| Resistance (cut) | Borealis · C-130 · Jalopy · Jet Ski · Submarine · V-22 Osprey |
| Other (cut) | Digger |
