ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[JoeKW]

Thanks Canard, that helps

[Pheidippides]

What else is remaining?

Debris removal, street sweeping, a few small sections of paving, sidewalks to pour (and set; the west side was being poured this morning), signal activation (although maybe lime downtown Kitchener they'll use stop signs for the forseeable future), signage installation, line painting, construction fence/barrier removal, ...to name a few.

I've always been impressed at how these road openings seem to come together at the last minute; I am sure this one will be no different and will only and to my astonishment that so much can get done in such a short time.

[boatracer]

These "hard curb-starts" are everywhere.  Every time I see them, I cringe.  Go drive down Charles between Benton and Borden.  I bet snowploughs this winter are going to tear up half of them.

I still don't get why our design is so different from what everyone else does, with a raised centre portion for the tracks, instead of having it at the same height with just the curb sticking up like a "wall".

You would think the slightly raised centre portion would be easier for emergency vehicles to mount.  And it's not like we are totally separating traffic from LRT everywhere else.  Borden, Ottawa, Francis, etc just have a rolled gutter curb between the traffic lane and the LRT.

[kps]

Us: [...]
Them: [...]

If we're gonna fantasize: other them.

[Canard]

Well, poop.  I'm hearing some rumblings that might indicate that the reason that the Cameron Heights crossover (and KCI) are stalled is because they might have to take a (really big) step backward before moving forward again.

One word:  Rebar.

Also, I meant to post this before because it's been bothering me since I'm OCD-picky about design stuff, and that is that there's been a minor change to the colour scheme of our LRV's...

So, both the Metrolinx Pilot/Crosstown Final LRV's and ours were to have identical designs, but just different colours.

Metrolinx (Crosstown), Grey:



ion, Blue:



When the first photos of the Metrolinx Pilot LRV broke, I noticed that the headlight panel is now black (not colour coded), and the colour stripe extends further down, one additional panel... and the front panel isn't coloured - so the additional length of stripe doesn't blend in.  Ehhhh... not happy about that, but assumed that the panel below the headlights would get painted:

   

Looks like that hasn't happened:

   
Photo: Bryan Martyniuk

Worse, it looks like our trains have the same treatment:

   
Photo: Tom Galloway

I also found this updated rendering, which matches the Pilot colour scheme, as-shipped:

   

So, I guess I have to live with it. But I don't really like it.

[Pheidippides]

Uptown is coming together and looking great.

They are just finishing with the last of the paving along king from the tracks to Erb.

The last few sidewalk tiles have been poured; they probably won't be ready to take the tarps off them until tomorrow.

All the temporary fencing is down between William and willis. That sectionlooms to have been swept and power washed too. The lines are painted and signage is going up.

There is one sectionof embeded track right in front of the parked they are prepping madly for concrete but that shouldn't impact the opening.

I see regional traffic signal trucks arriving, presumably to work on the signals.

Any idea when GRT will start using this stretch again?

[Markster]

Any idea when GRT will start using this stretch again?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000">@Markster3000</a> It's in progress! Have to assess the area, determine stop locations, and install signage.</p>&mdash; Grand River Transit (@GRT_ROW) <a href="https://twitter.com/GRT_ROW/status/803959255556616193">November 30, 2016</a></blockquote>

[ijmorlan]

Any idea when GRT will start using this stretch again?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000">@Markster3000</a> It's in progress! Have to assess the area, determine stop locations, and install signage.</p>&mdash; Grand River Transit (@GRT_ROW) <a href="https://twitter.com/GRT_ROW/status/803959255556616193">November 30, 2016</a></blockquote>

The bus stop locations weren’t part of the plan?

[Pheidippides]

I think what they mean is that GrandLinq still has work to do in this area that doesn't involve full closures so where can they put the stops so they aren't constantly shifting around for temporary closures. It may just be easier for GRT, simpler for users, and allow GrandLinq to work faster for the busses to stay on the detour a little longer to provide consistency.

[kps]

The bus stop locations weren’t part of the plan?

There was a plan?

[Markster]

The bus stop locations weren’t part of the plan?

There was a plan?

heheheh
Frankly, for the most part, the planning has been:
0) Functional design plan completed in 2013 with input (but no real control from) GRT
1) Rapid Transit/Grandlinq does what it wants
2) GRT picks up the pieces

GRT knows they've got a bus bay at the Square, but they need to see exactly where GrandLinq has installed all the bus stop posts on King, and verify they're where they need them.

[Coke6pk]

Us: [...]
Them: [...]

If we're gonna fantasize: other them.

Who cuts the grass for them.  Grass looks WAY nicer, but there is always an extra cost involved.

As for Sound Transit, I took that in Seattle this summer... the majority of our trip was underground, and was fantastic!

Coke

[Pheidippides]

Traffic signals at king/William king/willis now operational (the roads were still closed as of 3:20).

They are paving between king street trio and the other building.

It looks like we are stuck with the wooden poles a while longer as they covered the gravel patches with asphalt.

[Pheidippides]

So, I guess I have to live with it. But I don't really like it.

I agree the original colour scheme looked better.

Perhaps it is for the better though. That piece will likely have to be replaced more than once during "learning-drive-in-an-lrt-community" phase after system launch. So better the grey get scratched and dented and replace it with the blue panel later.

Plus there are still thirteen trains to come maybe we convince them to change it by then.

[Canard]

OMG if they made half of them different I would move to another city.