ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[mgregorasz]

Maybe the City/Region should invest in a couple of wing plow trailers for the single track sections ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No. Just make better plans.

For example, when weather warning like this come out switch do a different set of priorities. Normally a bit of snow dumped on an LRT track by a snowplow doesn't matter because rail vehicles can handle snow better than rubber-tired road vehicles, but there is still such a thing as "too much".

When the warnings come out, put away the "Regular Snowfall Plan" book and get out the "Heavy Snowfall Plan" book.

First, add a refinement to the three priority tiers of when roads get cleared that now the drivers must stick to predefined routes which leaves off the side of Ottawa St. where the tracks are so nobody plows too much snow onto the tracks that would get the trams stuck. Humans make mistakes and somebody might forget because they are used to a plowing routine, so instead of blaming them we give them the tools they need to not make a mistake. In this case, a GPS device and a predefined route around their sector that omits the part that needs special/different care.

Second, take one of the tractor+blower & dump truck pairs off of DTK duty and send it down to clear that part of Ottawa St. When done it can head back to help in DTK. Send it back to Ottawa St. as often as a snowplow would go through.

Voila, alternate plan for snowfall that doesn't require more equipment.

Municipalities should have alternate plans made up for these occasional "once in 20 year" events, and to not have them is simply incompetence.

I'm willing to bet that the "Heavy Snowfall Plan" would look exactly the same as the "Regular Snowfall Plan". There is no need for municipalities to have multiple snow removal plans for different type of storms when the only thing that changes is the amount of snow that needs to be cleared. In the case of the part of Ottawa St. that has the adjacent LRT track, Kitchener could either:
A) Get the plow operators that run that route to go as slow as possible (without getting stuck) so that the windrow doesn't get spread all over the tracks
or
B) Have a 4 x4 pickup truck with a plow run down the LRT tracks right behind the road plow to push snow back towards the windrow and tighten it up.