ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

OCS (catenary) tensioners have been installed on either side of Columbia!  2 on the North side, 2 on the South.  This is where one line stops, and another begins.  These tensioners function by using a large, cylindrical weight hanging from a rope which is fixed to the larger diameter on that big pulley.  The smaller diameter has another rope wound around it - giving a huge mechanical advantage.  A little big of weight gets a lot of pulling force.  This is what keeps the overhead line tight.

   

   

   

   

   

[ijmorlan]

Waterloo has giant Danger/Don't cross here signs there but people just push past the fence anyway.  

If it is NOT truly a danger, then it's problematic because it leads to a culture of feeling that it is ok to just ignore signs and do whatever the hell you want. Then someone gets killed by a train or falls down a pit where there really IS a danger, and the project is delayed and opening will get pushed back (which will really annoy me.).

GrandLinq has many times in the past responded rapidly when an issue is brought to their attention.  They can't fix a problem if they don't know it's there!

I can see multiple perspectives on this.

On the one hand, I am sometimes amazed at how careless people are about signage and closures. I remember a photo you posted of people jogging across the tracks in the park right next to machinery rolling back and forth on the tracks, contrary to signage and probably fencing as well.

On the other hand, there are so many pointless or unnecessary closures, that it’s hard to blame people for not obeying all the signs. I can think of several closures of paths that have extended for months with absolutely no hazard in the closed area. I don’t mean areas where it’s closed for a week but no work happens on, say, Wednesday. I mean that there is a period of several months during which a closure is completely unneeded. I immediately think of the path beside the tracks between University and Seagram, and the track crossing to Father David Bauer just south of the Laurel Creek bridge.

There certainly were times when those areas needed to be closed (including when you took your photo), but only a small fraction of the time during which they actually were closed.

I think that people who encounter a sign should default to respecting it, only violating it after careful examination of the area, on the assumption that there could be hidden hazards. It is possible for an apparently useless closure to actually be legitimate. And those in charge of construction projects should do a much better job of minimizing closures to only the times that they are actually needed, especially for non-vehicular route users who are still second-class citizens compared to the drivers (can anybody name a pointless road closure that has gone on for months?).

[ijmorlan]

And thanks for the great new photos. From the bus driving past I saw that the catpoles weren’t just poles any more but I couldn’t get a good view. These new photos show a lot of detail of what is going on.

[kps]

On the other hand, there are so many pointless or unnecessary closures [...]

There's been no work at Waterloo St for at least 3 months… other than repairing the fence.

[KevinL]

OCS (catenary) tensioners have been installed on either side of Columbia!  2 on the North side, 2 on the South.  This is where one line stops, and another begins.  These tensioners function by using a large, cylindrical weight hanging from a rope which is fixed to the larger diameter on that big pulley.  The smaller diameter has another rope wound around it - giving a huge mechanical advantage.  A little big of weight gets a lot of pulling force.  This is what keeps the overhead line tight.

Nice to see a preformed cylindrical mass here. Many such weights in Europe are simply stacks of bricks lashed together!

[ijmorlan]

On the other hand, there are so many pointless or unnecessary closures [...]

There's been no work at Waterloo St for at least 3 months… other than repairing the fence.

I haven’t seen it myself, but that certainly sounds like an unnecessary closure. I understand there is some regrading of the rail corridor, which might be a possible reason why Waterloo needs to be closed, but given the extensive closures of King and Duke, significant effort should have been put in to keep Waterloo open to pedestrian traffic.

I think there is a tendency to kneejerk: either any complaint about closures is just a version of NIMBY — any excuse to complain about the LRT project; or any closure is just part of Ken Seiling’s master plan to force everybody to ride the white elephant LRT by snarling traffic. Real life, of course, is more complicated than either of these options.

[taylortbb]

The Waterloo St closure is intended to be permanent, that's why it hasn't re-opened. Construction of the transit hub will go right across Waterloo St, and at that time a pedestrian/cyclist underpass or bridge is supposed to be constructed (likely leading into the transit hub concourse). So yes the work at Waterloo St is done, but it's not going to re-open.

[GtwoK]

There was the rendering from a while back. Everyone claimed it wasn't what it would look like, but turns out, it does :p. I'm on mobile, otherwise I'd find it.

If there IS an entire team dedicated to this, think of how fast King St will be finished once they complete the stairs and the team can move on to that!

Edit: oops, this was in response to the last post on the previous page. Didn't notice the new page!

[Pheidippides]

Yes, Waterloo street was closed permanently to vehicular traffic when the parcel of land it occupies was transferred from the city of Kitchener to the region in June of 2015 to form part of the larger transit hub parcel. The fencing to keep pedestrians and cyclists from crossing is some sort of transport Canada requirement related to the king underpass I think. "Waterloo street" will only ever "reopen" when the hub is developed and only then to pedestrians and cyclists.

[Canard]

Waterloo Street was also probably closed when the railway crossing signalling system was deactivated/removed at King. Remember, months ago when they fenced off King and Waterloo, they had to do that several weeks before work began so that people would get used to it being closed, because the signals were deactivated and it was such a safety concern. That was mandated by either CN or Transport Canada. It was specifically mentioned in the monthly (bi-weekly?) ion email updates.

[schooner77]

It looks like the corner of Caroline and Erb is down to one lane on Caroline, travelling south. With King blocked off, this seems like very poor timing and coordination. This corner is busy at the best of times, but becoming a complete zoo.

[MidTowner]

I think there is a tendency to kneejerk: either any complaint about closures is just a version of NIMBY — any excuse to complain about the LRT project; or any closure is just part of Ken Seiling’s master plan to force everybody to ride the white elephant LRT by snarling traffic. Real life, of course, is more complicated than either of these options.

I don’t think it’s at all NIMBY to question whether more could have been done to prevent a detour of a kilometre. That’s a substantial barrier for a lot of people.

I have personally assumed that Waterloo Street has been closed for genuine safety reasons, so I’m not using it (it’s closed). I see it being used sometimes by others- they are mostly young and mostly male from what I’ve seen. I haven’t see anyone in a wheelchair or pushing a stroller doing it.

We’re talking about a railway. It can be dangerous. If someone has a thoughtful reason based on observations why it’s not actually dangerous, please do communicate that with the Region for the rest of our sakes, so the closure can be lifted if it’s really not necessary.

[Markster]

I've done the illicit crossing of Waterloo St a month or so ago, and can confirm that it was patently ridiculous that it was closed. There was no safety difference from when it was an open street. No site works were happening anywhere near the street.

The main reason railways are "more dangerous" is because they see much fewer trains than an average street sees cars, so people forget to look both ways before crossing. All trains through here are already going slow, and ringing their bells.

It remains an absurd closure.

[MidTowner]

It remains an absurd closure.

You should contact someone with that (I know you are active on twitter).

[Canard]

I trust Transport Canada's decision over that of a frustrated forum poster/pedestrian. Sorry, Markster. It's a safety concern.