ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[jamincan]

I assume running vehicles more often would help? Or is that not the case?

[trainspotter139]

I assume running vehicles more often would help? Or is that not the case?

Running more vehicles would reduce the amount of ice buildup that would occur between vehicle movements.

[ijmorlan]

Do any systems use separate scrapers? I can imagine that a wire-contact device that was optimized to remove ice rather than to collect enough power to run the vehicle might be worthwhile. Or not. I’ve never designed an LRV.

[trainspotter139]

Do any systems use separate scrapers? I can imagine that a wire-contact device that was optimized to remove ice rather than to collect enough power to run the vehicle might be worthwhile. Or not. I’ve never designed an LRV.

Portland's LRT system uses a secondary ice cutter pantograph on it's vehicles.

[kps]

You decide:

Is that really pantograph vs trolley pole, though, or just 25kV vs 600V?

[Canard]

Too bad we didn’t go for PRIMOVE, eh?

[danbrotherston]

I dunno, I think lightning is cool

[Viewfromthe42]

Just pretend you're watching the evolution of Doc Brown's time machine, the electrics of the original, the form factor of Part III

[EdM]

Too bad we didn’t go for PRIMOVE, eh?

Or perhaps even Li-ion batteries like Detroit's QLine (assuming some parts are completely iced over and some are not).

[Canard]

Part of Bombardier's wireless solution is short-term energy storage, similar to the above - that's what the MITRAC unit is on the roof.

The MITRAC unit supplies a steady stream of power to the LRV's electrical system. The MITRAC unit is supplied (by potentially intermittent and variable-level) energy via the contactless transfer PRIMOVE system under the vehicle, via the inductive principle.

The effective difference is the size/capacity of the energy storage device (battery, supercapacitor) - Brookville's vehicles used on QLINE have a larger battery, so can operate for more than half of the time off-power.

[Canard]

[Spokes]

Thanks for posting that Canard!

I was driving up Courtland from Manitou crossing Blockline yesterday and the lights were flashing, but the arms were up. I thought I might see an LRV coming up the tracks, but nothing. Anyone else seen this before?

[Canard]

Yes, it’s very common. I heard them talking about that on the radio yesterday, an LRV reported it and sent RailTerm out to investigate.

[Canard]

Could we not retrofit some of the corridor segments to have grass? Or does the ballast have to stay accessible?

Who's going to pay for it Kevin?

How will it be maintained in the winter?

[Canard]

1/1 - Saturday, February 9, 2019