ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Square]

Update on the KCI stairs - crews were working today!

Is the brick going to cover all the concrete?, if so how do they get the brick to stick to the concrete?  Thank you.

[JCnb]

Update on the KCI stairs - crews were working today!

Is the brick going to cover all the concrete?, if so how do they get the brick to stick to the concrete?  Thank you.

Brick would be installed th same way it would on a building, the brick wall sits on a ledge of concrete or steel and is tied back to the concrete walls with metal ties every few courses to keep it from " falling forward" therefore it isn't "glued" to the wall. Also common is a 1" air space behind the brick to allow any water or moisture to run to the bottom of the wall and drain out via weep holes and keep it out of the wall

[JCnb]

Looking back at photos before the brick was installed, the concrete in that area is recessed back which tells me that brick panel is likely the extent of the brick and the rest will be covered in something else?

[Square]

Looking back at photos before the brick was installed, the concrete in that area is recessed back which tells me that brick panel is likely the extent of the brick and the rest will be covered in something else?

Thank you for the replies.

[panamaniac]

Anybody know where the statue of WLMK is supposed to be installed after the staircase is completed?

[Square]

The conceptual rendering here has no brick at all, just at the sides of the front doors. This is over a year old, I think these renders have changed. : http://www.rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo...sRFPV3.pdf

[kps]

Interestingly enough it isn't on the list anymore either:
http://app.kitchener.ca/road_closure/es_...losure.asp

What I've heard: the city was asked, and the answer is that there will be a closure, but not as soon as had previously been stated on their web site, that local residents and businesses will be informed before it happens, and that pedestrian access has yet to be determined by the region & Grandlinq.

My guess from that is that the Duke closure will be for rail realignment for the King underpass and will not happen until at least one of the spans is complete.

[Canard]

I heard a rumour about ION's opening date... am I allowed to share?

I guess you didn't hear anything after all.

[ijmorlan]

As for Ion's opening day, perhaps it is time for a poll? Based on current progress:
1) on time
2) early
3) late
4) really late

I don’t believe an opening date has been published so even if one were to estimate an opening date based on progress it would be hard to say whether it was an early or late date.

All I’ve heard (from non-rumour sources) is that the LRVs are to be delivered starting in approximately July of this year and should all be on the property before the end of this year; and the system is supposed to be completed in 2017. I’ve more or less arbitrarily assumed that 2017 means September 2017 because that is a typical time of year for rolling out significant service improvements.

Based on progress and on how much time stuff ought to take, I think service should start between Conestoga Mall and either Uptown or Grand River Hospital this coming Fall. But I don’t actually expect it to do so. Phased openings seem to now be difficult for our civilization. I heard that for the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto the people running it were claiming that a phased opening was flat-out impossible. Why? Because signal system. Now, clearly the signalling system has to be installed and so on, but a basic requirement for a signalling system is that it be able to support portions of the system being closed and therefore show a red signal against any movement entering those portions. Whether the portions in question are just closed or not built yet isn’t really relevant; as a reductio, imagine building the entire signalling system, but with all the signals, wires, and everything else for the not-yet-constructed portion of the system packed together into a short length of track. So as far as the signals knew, the entire system would be there, they would just be instructed never to allow any trains into the part that isn’t really there for real.

So no matter how good the progress seems to be this Summer, I fully expect completion of the minor details to be stretched out so that we don’t see any revenue service until Fall 2017. And yes, I do know that steps like signal commissioning and vehicle testing need to be done, but there is something fundamentally wrong with our society if we can’t open at least part of a new transit service with no tunnels in less than three years from the beginning of construction.

[ijmorlan]

I heard a rumour about ION's opening date... am I allowed to share?

I guess you didn't hear anything after all.  

This isn’t the first time that “Insider” has teased like this — wasn’t there something about a development near the grade separation? I think it’s best to assume that the nickname is arbitrary and not related to any actual insider status relative to any relevant organization.

[jamincan]

He hasn't exactly established his claimed status, has he. It's easy to go online and claim you know something, and then not share any information.

[Canard]

As for Ion's opening day, perhaps it is time for a poll? Based on current progress:
1) on time
2) early
3) late
4) really late

I'm anticipating 3 ("late") by about 6 months.   More below.

I don’t believe an opening date has been published so even if one were to estimate an opening date based on progress it would be hard to say whether it was an early or late date.

I've always heard "Fall 2017" or "Late 2017" from any of the official project team, regional Government or GrandLinq folks.  (CTV, public consultations, newspaper, etc)

All I’ve heard (from non-rumour sources) is that the LRVs are to be delivered starting in approximately July of this year and should all be on the property before the end of this year; and the system is supposed to be completed in 2017.

That's the project schedule, yeah - all 14 trains on-site by the end of 2016.  I've heard rumblings that we're on track (ha!) to get one train on time, this fall, for testing on the spur... but that subsequent trains will be delayed (perhaps significantly).  I don't think we'll have all 14 trains until well into 2017.  I'm guessing that a big part of that comes down to Toronto's FLEXITY Outlook order being so woefully behind schedule.  The optics of keeping 14 trains for Waterloo on-time but delaying a significantly larger order for Toronto even further are terrible.  Slipping one in there for us so we have something to play with doesn't look so bad.  We can probably limp along at opening with 4 trains minimum to start in "service preview" mode.

As for my "late" prediction above... most modern Light Rail systems need somewhere around 6-9 months of system testing before they ever open to the public.  We can start Waterloo Spur testing likely this fall (contingent on yard track, catenary, and power connections going in this summer), but trains can't continue past Victoria until the grade separation is done... scheduled to be complete late 2016.  So if that goes late at all, add 9 months onto that and you're already at the end of 2017.  It doesn't allow for a single misstep anywhere else.  They haven't really even touched Duke or Victoria and with all the trouble they had on Charles between Victoria and Benton, I'm imagining more of the same, there.

So, yeah, it sucks, but I think mid-2018 is more the timeframe we'll be looking at.  9 months late wouldn't be at all unusual.  Many Light Rail systems have opened 5-10 years late around the world.

He hasn't exactly established his claimed status, has he. It's easy to go online and claim you know something, and then not share any information.

I should know better - we have kids that do this all the time in roller coaster forums. "The Dippin' Dots guy told me we're getting a B&M Launched Wing Coaster with 8 inversions at Wonderland for 2017!!"

There's an old saying in the coaster forums regarding insider information and rumours: Those who talk, don't know, and those who known, don't talk...

[Canard]

I was up by the OMSF today, so stopped by to see what was going on.

Here's a close-up shot of the TPSS - it's huuuuge!
   

A second (final) track switch has gone in.
   

   

Further South along the spur, they have installed metal clips/brackets on each of the cat poles.  These are for supporting the line hangars that extend out on either side to support the OCS wire.  It's not hard to imagine that within the next few weeks, we could see catenary up!

[MidTowner]

I'm voting somewhere between "late" and "really late," though the definition of the second is of course subjective. Ken Seiling was quoted in an article not too long ago regarding the dome as saying that he still felt that Ion would be operational sometime in 2017- I wish I could find it; for some reason it struck be as not too confidence-inspiring, since we have generally heard autumn 2017 and now, still almost two years out, it becomes "sometime in 2017." With the rumours about the issues with the trains, and the delays with the Victoria underpass, it doesn't seem likely it will launch in September 2017.

I'll be pleased and not too disappointed if it's a year late. I would hope it isn't delayed into 2019 somehow...

ijmorlan makes a lot of sense when he says it's too bad a phase-in launch isn't possible. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be.

[Canard]

Ottawa is opening a short two-station section (I think) of their LRT first, for the Canada 150 celebration, with the whole system opening later. When the Skytrain opened in Vancouver, they opened actually just one station first, and gave people rides for a few months out and back along the guideway, so they could try out the system until it was complete.

It would be my dream that something like that could happen here too, along the Waterloo spur. Offer free rides between Northfield and R&T Park on weekends or something, just to at least give us something to experience and "preview" the system. Since the FLEXITY Freedom testing is set to happen along this stretch anyway, I could actually imagine that happening!