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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Printable Version

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RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 07-21-2017

Two random LRT photos:

This generator (near the market station) has been running for more than six months now, I think.  Surely the TPSS doesn't need an external generator, does it?
   

Transporting gravel using the LRT tracks ...
   

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - timc - 07-21-2017

(07-21-2017, 12:10 PM)tomh009 Wrote: This generator (near the market station) has been running for more than six months now, I think.  Surely the TPSS doesn't need an external generator, does it?

I believe the TPSS at Waterloo Park still has a generator running as well.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 07-21-2017

No, they don't need an external generator. The generators were brought in to power up the electronics before the main power was supplied. As they are commissioned the generators are removed.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 07-21-2017

I presume trains can't run until the TPSS is fully powered up. So when will they be powered?

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 07-21-2017

They're coming online one by one, often the guys are out working on Sundays, too. Look for open doors on the TPSS' and signal houses, and a Mass Electric truck nearby.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - KevinL - 07-21-2017

Also from today's update:

Quote:Testing of the railway crossing signals will begin on or about July 24, and will be ongoing until the fall. This operation will trigger the gates and bells at the railway crossings (Courtland, Ottawa/Mill, Hayward, Block Line and Wilson) for a maximum of two minutes at a time. This work will generally take place between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to avoid traffic disruptions during rush hour


RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - plam - 07-21-2017

Interestingly, I saw some LRT construction going on in Astana (Kazakhstan) today. The stats are close to ours: 22.4km, 18 stops, 19 LRVs, max speed 40km/h. Astana's population is higher at 835,000 with enormous growth in the past 15 years due in part to now being the national capital. It's basically built by China. The government doesn't have any problem spending money (although they vacillated between LRT and BRT as well).

Surprisingly, it's being estimated at US$1.8B. And there's not that many natural obstacles in Astana either, and the infrastructure is all new. Maybe the only obstacle is the river. But 2.5x the cost?

They were also hoping to finish it in time for Expo 2017, but they missed that by quite a bit.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 07-21-2017

(07-21-2017, 12:42 PM)Canard Wrote: They're coming online one by one, often the guys are out working on Sundays, too. Look for open doors on the TPSS' and signal houses, and a Mass Electric truck nearby.

Do you have much of an idea what is involved at this stage? Are they just flipping a few switches, or is there a bunch of testing to do, still hooking up wires, or what? I’ve been amazed at the amount of work still being done at the derail by my house — at this point there is no visible change, but every few days somebody is out there with the door or equipment covers open, clearly doing something.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 07-21-2017

I'm really not sure. I've talked to a few of the folks while they're out there working, but nothing really of detail (I don't like to pry, or take them away from what they're working on for too long). It's an incredible amount of work; the boxes are absolutely jam packed with electronics. Trying to troubleshoot it all and bring it all online must be a monumental task!

Most cities take around 6 months or a year to do the commissioning phase, so I think we're right in line.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Pheidippides - 07-21-2017

(07-20-2017, 09:50 AM)Markster Wrote: I wonder how many years it will be before they legitimize the *obvious* crossing for the Willis Way platform.  I can guarantee you that 80% of all able-bodied people will just cross Caroline St directly from the platform.


And more fruitless traffic control is clearly on display at Northfield.
Most destinations at Northfield are to the left.  They are forcing all exits out the right.  Again, most people are going to walk around that fence, but then cut diagonally across the ROW toward their destination.  Unless I suppose, they put a dividing fence down the middle.

I’ve said it before, but I think it is worth mentioning again: not enough thought about how Ion users will actually use and access the stations has been done and is now showing in the final execution of the build. It will affect ridership, the experience, and safety negatively.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - KevinL - 07-22-2017

A case in point: I went by the Kitchener Market station his morning. The south end of the platform has ramps and tactile plates - which are even signposted as being for 'Madison and Cameron Streets' on the platform - but there's still a high curb between the track and road, and no curb cuts on the sidewalk or any crosswalk markings. Which makes you wonder why it's signposted at all.

They could have put this a bit further south and at least used the access at Madison - but they can't because there's a signal box right there in the median. Oh well.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 07-22-2017

Some of this will need to get fixed (and hopefully it will get fixed).

That said, I really don't think it will have a significant impact on ridership. Of course, there is no A/B comparison possible so we will never actually know.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 07-23-2017

I spotted a very interesting problem this morning.

https://twitter.com/canardiain/status/889124798508519425

The thread explains, but I spoke to the programmer working one block down, and he headed back over (hopefully to fix it). I haven't swung back around yet this afternoon to see if it's all fixed.

EDIT - Just confirming that the lights at Queen are now operating correctly!

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 07-23-2017




RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - danbrotherston - 07-24-2017

Good news everybody!  Under the railway underpass (you know, that place where there are technically going to MUTs for cyclists anyway), the contractor has painted the edge line buffer yellow in the middle of the road instead of white at the shoulder of the road, ensuring that drivers and cyclists will no longer mistake it for a bike lane.

Of course, I suspect they're doing this because of the different road configuration (tracks at the right, with no barrier curb) because somehow a barrier curb on the right is more dangerous than one in the middle?!