02-02-2018, 03:44 PM
(02-02-2018, 11:19 AM)Canard Wrote: On other LRT systems I have been on, what happens in a situation like NB at Seagram is this:
-Train approaches station at speed. Arms come down, bells/lights on.
-Once the train stops at the platform, arms go up, bells/lights off.
-When the train is ready to depart, arms go down, bells/lights come on.
-Once train clears intersection, arms go up, bells/lights off.
The reason for this is presumably so if the train blows through the station, people don’t die.
I cannot wait to see intersections like Erb/Caroline and Block Line/Courtland once things get cranking. Up down up down up down. Hahaha
At Seagram that might be OK as a practical matter simply because the traffic level on Seagram is low but I can see it potentially being a significant problem in a different situation (Ottawa St.?).
Given that the LRT has a signalling system, they should be able to put a red signal for the LRT at the station to force the vehicle to stop at the platform if the crossing protection is not active. So when the vehicle is ready to leave, it would indicate so, which would cause the crossing protection to activate and then the signal to clear to green. Of course this could and would only happen if the signal would be allowed to be green according to the usual railway block rules.
Similarly, I saw both the Seagram crossing and the pedestrian crossing at the south end of the platform both active at the same time. But only the one “in front” of the LRV should be active (which direction is “in front” naturally depending on which cab is active, if any). Of course this may be related to the fact that they’re still testing.
Having said that, as long as we don’t have the ridiculously long activation periods they apparently have on some British railway crossings, we’ll be OK. If I understand correctly, the gates sometimes come down multiple minutes before the train goes through, which has the obvious consequences on respect for the signals that have been discussed here before.