Atlantic Express (Level)

Atlantic Express is the second level of BioShock 2. Subject Delta's objective is to meet with Brigid Tenenbaum who sought refuge inside the train station of the derelict Atlantic Express Depot. Delta will be introduced to the train system which marks the first step in his journey to find Eleanor. He will also be confronted by Sofia Lamb for the first time, and her determination to put an end to his existence again and stop him in his quest.
==History==
The Atlantic Express Depot, also known as the Maintenance Depot, was the main hub and administration for the Atlantic Express railway, and contains the train manufacturing and repair facilities of the train system. An older system than Rapture Metro, it replaces bathyspheres for travels around the oldest part of Rapture after the whole city has been put on lockdown by Sofia Lamb, with torpedo launchers preventing citizens from escaping by sea. The Depot was also the starting point to all train lines across Rapture, including the South-East line leading to where Sofia Lamb keeps control of the city.
==BioShock 2==
After Subject Delta leaves the Adonis Luxury Resort, he travels through the ocean to get to the Atlantic Express Depot to meet Brigid Tenenbaum. From there he is directed by the former scientist to board the train waiting in the station above and travel to Ryan Amusements to meet up with Augustus Sinclair, an ally who will guide him to where Eleanor is kept.
===Train Workshop 6A===
This workshop contains the airlock entrance that allows Big Daddies and other workers in deep sea diving gear to access the Depot. This airlock connects to a locker room for the suits and gear of the divers. Further along is a pneumatic pipeline for packages and mail, and a small office with tool supplies, including a Hack Tool. After a locked door is opened, there is the Workshop that contains a train car suspended for repair, and several drafting rooms.
To proceed, a closed main door must be opened to follow the rails into the next repair section, which is done by accessing the controls in a Security Booth. When Delta does this, he is contacted by Sofia Lamb via radio and television, and he is ambushed by Splicers who throw Molotov Cocktails into the booth. The eroded floor of the booth collapses from the flames, causing Delta to fall down a shaft into the flooded Maintenance Runoff Pumping Station tunnel.
===Drafting===
Delta proceeds through the Maintenance Runoff tunnel to the Drafting Room. In the chamber before the drafting offices there is a storage supply closet with posters and tools, along with one of the few Vita-Chambers.
The Drafting Room consists of an enclosed area with a dozen desks for drafting mechanics for the Atlantic Express trains. The room is guarded by a Security Camera, and is located next to a Jet-Postal station mail room. Several air pipes carrying supplies through pneumatic tubes have been broken, and a Little Sister had left Delta a gift from Eleanor Lamb. From here a person can enter the Workshop 6B section through a locked door or by taking the stairs up to a balcony area.
===Train Workshop 6B===
This workshop is adjacent to the Drafting Rooms and receives the Train Cars from Workshop 6A. In this section, the train cars were prepared for departure. This area also contained a small diner, the Railway Cafe, in which the workers eat between shifts. To the right of the cafe was the bathroom and an EVE Dispenser.
Workshop 6B could be divided into two separate sections by lowering a massive door down in the center of the chamber. The raising and lowering of this door was conducted by levers and gears inside a nearby Control Room booth.
===Switching Hub===
From Workshop 6B, a short stairway connects up to the Switching Hub as children's blocks tumble down the stairs. A Big Sister halts at the top of the flight and acrobatically vaults over the motionless metal hulks, drawing the eye upward. It is a massive circular room evoking the sense of a mechanical cathedral where train cars would be hoisted by Christen Smith freight hooks and rotated in preparation for fitting to the different tracks of the railways. Stylized statues of Big Daddies holding wrenches aloft towards the vaulted ceiling decorate the walls like effigies adored with red neon. A single train has collapsed from its hooks in the center of the hub, halting the progression of the trains coming and going out of the walls, but the rest of the room is a mess of stacked crates and piled junk. As Delta travels through the Hub, Splicers will come running from the darkness, and more wait behind the piles of derailed train cars.
The northern wall of the Hub room contains an elevator up to the Train Station of the Depot. The elevator travels up through many levels of the Atlantic Express Depot and provides a brilliant view of the many mechanisms keeping the rolling stock running, as well as its sheer size.
===Manager's Office===
The elevator exits into an upper room with a small office, most likely from a manager of the depot. While the office is mostly filled with old files and documents, a few crates of ammunition from good old Sinclair Solutions come in handy.
The depressing scene of a suicide pact can be found by the office's desk, the man slumped in a chair, the broken pistol used by the hapless woman still laying at her feet.
===Train Platform===
This area connects to the waiting lounge of the Train Station, with a Cafe for visitors and staircase leading to the ticket booth and departure area. The entrance to the cafe is blocked by debris, though the neon sign still claims it is open for business.
Down stairs, In the security office of the ticket booth, Subject Delta encounters Brigid Tenenbaum, who has converted the booth into a small safe haven for the cured Little Sisters. As Tenenbaum talks with Delta, Sofia Lamb makes a broadcast over the television monitor, revealing Delta's location to all her loyal Splicers and causing Tenenbaum and the young girls to flee.
The gates to the main station will unlock at the this point. The area, both large and grisly, was likely once breathtaking and bustling with activity. The train on the right has been completely left in ruins from large debris, and some of the area is slightly flooded. Only the train on the left, which travels the South-East Branch, is still functioning.
==Map==
==New Discoveries==
===New Weaponry===
*Hack Tool
===New Plasmids and Tonics===
*Telekinesis
===New Enemies===
*Security Camera
*Security Bot
===Audio Diaries===
#Andrew Ryan - The Great Chain Rattles - On a desk in the workshop/office of Workshop 6A.
#Eleanor Lamb - Mr. Tape Recorder - Through the fan at the end of the Maintenance Runoff Pumping Station tunnel; Telekinesis required to obtain it.
#Prentice Mill - Just a Fad - On a desk in the upper balcony of Workshop 6B.
#Mark Meltzer - What Happened to the People? - Next to a mattress in a corner of Workshop 6B.
#Sofia Lamb - Ryan vs Lamb: Reality - In the storage room of the Railway Cafe.
#Sofia Lamb - Know the Beast - On a fallen filing cabinet in the Control Room.
#Gilbert Alexander - Improving on Suchong's Work - In an open drawer of a filing cabinet in the Manager's Office, immediately after taking the elevator upstairs.
#Brigid Tenenbaum - The Situation - On a bench in the center of the Train Station.
==Gallery==
ss preview bio222.jpg|Concept art for the Atlantic Express Train Station.
ss preview bio216.jpg|Concept art for the Atlantic Express railway train.
Ocean Entrance.png|A Big Sister on the ocean entrance sign.
Atl Express-Work A-01.png|Packages stream through the pneumatic pipes.
Digital-frontiers 44.jpg|An office in ruins.
Atl Express-Work A-02.png|A hackable ally.
Digital-frontiers 15-1.jpg|The entrance to the Repair Platform.
Go4daneck.png|A Splicer attacks Delta as he enters the Depot.
Atl Express-Work A-03.png|The workroom in Train Workshop A.
Atl Express-Run Off-01.png|Wading through the run off.
Atl Express-Run Off-02.png|It's a wash.
Atl Express-Draft-03.png|The Rapture Family's presence is everywhere.
Telekinesis gift.png|Jet-Postal's special package.
hopethishelps.jpg|A message from Eleanor.
Atl Express-Cafe-04.png|The Railway Cafe.
depot managers office.png|Elevator at the depot managers office.
Door-Mechanism.jpg|A Splicer jams the door mechanism with a pipe.
Bio2 AtlExp Train Workshop 6A Maintenance Facility Passage.png|The maintenance facility entryway.
Digital Frontiers 56.jpg|The inside of the train car.
==Behind the Scenes==
*The idea of a Train Station level in Rapture was originally created during development of BioShock for Rapture's Art Deco environment, as well as being the first level 2K Boston (now Irrational Games) had made, but the level was essentially converted as the game's Welcome Center.Bioshock Making of - Art on YouTube
*The female Splicer discussing what happened to Jack is voiced by Sheryl Lee.Sheryl Lee's IMDb page: She was hired on BioShock 2 by accident, due to some mix up with the auditions. She plays one of the Splicers standing around a fire discussing what happened to Jack.
*A fallen sign for Sea Gate 12 appears twice in this level: through the windows in the back room of the Railway Cafe and the rear wall of the Control Room in Workshop 6B. 
==References==
de:Atlantic Express
es:Expreso Atlántico
fr:Atlantic Express
it:Atlantic Express (Livello)
ru:Атлантический экспресс
Category:Atlantic Express
Category:BioShock 2 Locations
Category:Walkthroughs