ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[JoeKW]

Most of the big malls in the Montreal area are owned by CF. They're absolutely massive.

[panamaniac]

CTV News reports that construction on King St, Uptown, has stopped after excavation work uncovered remnants of an old corduroy road. Apparently there's an archaeological process that must be followed before LRT work can resume.

[Canard]

Oh no.

Here's the link: http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/construction...-1.2826510

[jgsz]

Question.  Will the Oktoberfest and Santa Clause Parades have to find a new permanent route once ION is running?  I would think so but I haven't heard anything about it.

[KevinL]

I can properly confirm Ontario Street has reopened at Charles.

Southbound #7s are still detouring, though, at least for the moment.

[MidTowner]

Question.  Will the Oktoberfest and Santa Clause Parades have to find a new permanent route once ION is running?  I would think so but I haven't heard anything about it.

That was actually on an FAQ page somewhere. It said those parades could still travel on the LRT route and, if necessary, Ion could short-turn to accommodate them.

The Oktoberfest is traveling down Weber this year, right?

[KevinL]

The Oktoberfest is traveling down Weber this year, right?

It will be Weber again this year, yes. Should be back on King by 2017.

[KevinL]

Railway Age, a general North American rail news site, has an update on Ion: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/pass...gress.html

[Canard]

Thanks, Kevin!

Only one major mistake:  The article states that all yard-track at the OMSF is in place, when in reality, no yard track in place at all - which is troublesome to me, although I understand that's to begin in "late spring".

...I just really, really, really can't wait any longer for the trains to start showing up.

This is agony.

[KevinL]

From this morning.

A reopened Ontario street looks great...


...but something's not right here.


That metal grate is far too close to the inside of the rail - no way will a wheel flange fit safely past. I sincerely hope they're planning to trim that down somehow.

[Canard]

I'd imagine so. They likely fab the covers longer than require then cut to suit at installation.

These are track lubricators which appear before any curves using restraining rail to help reduce noise and flange wear. There is a fairly large control cabinet and lubricant storage box which appears next to each of these.

[ijmorlan]

I'd imagine so.  They likely fab the covers longer than require then cut to suit at installation.

That seems surprising to me. Wouldn’t they all be the same, and therefore wouldn’t it be easier to manufacture them to the same correct size to start with?

In this particular picture, it almost looks as if there is too much space on the other side (bottom of the picture), making me wonder if it actually is poured wrong, with the whole box shifted towards the bottom relative to the rail.

Having said that, I really don’t know anything about the process.

[Canard]

Right - but when contractor A lays the track and contractor B does the formwork and contractor C does the concrete pour, allowances have to be made when somebody screws up. I agree though, if I were doing it, I'd probably come up with a fixture or form that clips over the rail to guarantee the correct "cutout" in the concrete gets silohetted. But I'm looking at this as an automation designer not a construction/civil engineer.

It could just be a cover that stays on until winter is done and then gets removed once the "guts" are installed. Seems pretty nice for a temporary cover though.

[Canard]

I was just up at the OMSF and I guess they heard me - half the mobile offices are gone from the front part off The Dutton loop, and the yard has been cleared. They moved a bunch of lengths of rail into the middle. Phew!

Also, the Seagram/Laurier park stop is now revealed:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Seagram/Laurier platform revealed at <a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooPrk">@WaterlooPrk</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TramWorld">@TramWorld</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kwawesome?src=hash">#kwawesome</a> <a href="https://t.co/MwM6R3Lak8">pic.twitter.com/MwM6R3Lak8</a></p>&mdash; Iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/712766847804907520">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>

[GtwoK]

Please note that the intersection closure at Allen/Caroline will be extended until approximately June 15. In an effort to re-sequence crews in the area as a result of the archeologist investigation on King, GrandLinq will continue work in the Allen/Caroline intersection. - See more at: http://www.rideion.ca/traffic-updates.ht...qs0g5.dpuf

Was originally scheduled to reopen today. Seems like this corduroy road has delayed construction by 2 months :/