ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Probably!

Supposed to be a film shoot today at Central Station; a new commercial for the Region.

[urbd]

I heard through the grapevine that one of the public art installations has been potentially cancelled

[Canard]

Please tell me it’s not Network or my Fairway birbs.

[Bob_McBob]

The curb starts for the Rapidway have been ground down to a ramp from a sharp edge.

I noticed they finally removed the traffic cone on the curb at King and Northfield, but I wasn't sure if they had done any work on it. Without a clear marker am pretty sure cars will still drive up on it by accident.

[Canard]

I wish Keolis or GrandLinq or the Region would put a Giant right-justified illuminated “ion” logo on the OMSF.

[KevinL]

Just spotted 507 at Mill Station. My first unplanned sighting (was not seeking it out at all).

[KevinT]

Caught a bit of today's testing as 505 arrived and departed from Waterloo Public Square.  The signals at the Erb/Caroline intersection worked well but the ones in the parking lot were still a bit glitchy...

[ijmorlan]

Caught a bit of today's testing as 505 arrived and departed from Waterloo Public Square.  The signals at the Erb/Caroline intersection worked well but the ones in the parking lot were still a bit glitchy...

Can’t wait for those lubricators…

[trainspotter139]

Caught a bit of today's testing as 505 arrived and departed from Waterloo Public Square.  The signals at the Erb/Caroline intersection worked well but the ones in the parking lot were still a bit glitchy...

Can’t wait for those lubricators…  

Me too.

[Pheidippides]

Did they ever get the same problem figured out with their Gold Coast Line? I know it was quite bad for some time.

[Canard]

The reason our system has lubricators from the start is because of the problems G:Link encountered.

"By modifying the friction characteristics at the wheel-rail interface using specialised lubricants, wheel squeal and noise was completely eliminated during trials carried out on the GCLR network."

"The team from the IRT recommended and tested the use of friction head modifiers at a couple of critical locations in Surfers Paradise which had a significant impact on reducing the noise at those locations.

[KevinT]

I'm surprised they don't build the vehicles with split axles and either differential gearing or two smaller motors per (split) axle instead of one big one.

Edit to add:. I've seen the explanation videos that show why the tapers on the wheels mean that differentials aren't needed for rail vehicles, but the noise seems to tell a different story.

[jamincan]

I guess the tapered wheels only work to a point? The subway in Toronto is basically a conventional train design, and it makes a tonne of noise on the sharp curves into and out of Union Station.

[Canard]

Correct, taper only works to a point.

Vienna has Siemens-built Ultra-low-floor LRV’s (the only ones in the world), and they do this. The motors are all servos, and the inboard and outboard ones vary their speed in curves. Vienna hates them, though, because they can’t manually tow them if the control system is off, without them derailing! Bombardier just started delivering new LRV’s to replace them... with conventional axles.

   
Photo Credit: Paul Bigland.  You can see the individual wheel + gearbox + servo arrangement mounted upright between the modules.

The reason FLEXITY Freedom has standard axles is because it lowers the cost and means they can use off-the-shelf bogie components. It’s one of the only 100% LF designs that makes use of a standard axle. Other LFLRV’s use gearboxes and additional dive shafts at a lower centre to allow the passageway above.

   

It runs on BOMBARDIER* FLEXX* Urban 3000 bogies
that were specifically developed for this 100% low-floor
vehicle, featuring conventional axles with primary and
secondary suspension elements. A hydraulic load-leveling
system that adjusts to boarding platforms completes the
design.

Bombardier was the first in the industry to combine 100%
low-floor technology with conventional wheel-set bogies.
Besides making low-floor entrances and easier passenger
access possible, this leading-edge technology gives the
FLEXITY Freedom ultra-smooth running qualities.

   
Bogie from one of Toronto's FLEXITY Outlook LRV's; this bogie is virtually identical to ours, albeit a little wider.  Photo credit: me!

[Canard]

1/2 - Thursday, June 14, 2018

Dynamic Load Testing Day!  Today, LRV 505 was out, fully loaded up, going through the various curves at the system at progressively higher speeds - even higher than the design limits for each of the curves!  Super cool!

I caught up with it at William, where they went back and forth about 6 times or so while I was there, before heading back up to the OMSF.   There, they did the same thing through the wye - at up to 18 km/h (posted 10 km/h).

While in UpTown Waterloo, I saw lots of scares, and chatted a bit with the Police.  The crew triggered the Emergency Stop on the LRV once, when heading Southbound through the curve and a motorist went to turn right on red.  This wasn't entirely their fault, because the traffic signal folks had not manually activated the "NO RIGHT TURN/TRAIN" sign.  Still, police gave them a very stern warning!

Another close call was a group of cyclists who were heading Northbound on King, while the train headed South.  They decided to squeeze up past the line of cars waiting at the red on William, on the right side - right where the train was coming.  A lot of screaming and waving of arms happened, before the LRV flew past them with them leaning and hunched over cars.  This is bad.  Don't do this.

Some peekchures...