03-13-2016, 06:53 AM
(03-12-2016, 05:06 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: 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.