ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Meanwhile, in Portland...

[tomh009]

Only a minor flood, no dramatic impact.

Really?  Looks pretty significant to me.  That is an absolutely massive amount of erosion.

I didn't see that!  I was at King & Queen and the amount of water there wasn't that bad.

[Canard]

It looked bad enough that they are now tearing up all the asphalt between Benton and Queen (which they would have had to do at some point, anyway).  I suspect that the flood completely eroded the pavement above it.  I suspect they'll fix this area and re-pave it temporarily to maintain access to the Benton St. Garage as well as the parking lot for the businesses on the North side of  Charles (between Queen and Benton).  The whole area is a mess.

   

   

This photo illustrates quite well the significant amount of earth/fill that will have to be brought in at the Benton/Charles intersection, before paving can begin:
   

   

Temporary scafolding/stairs were added after the fire occurred to all 3 buildings at the OMSF:
   

[Canard]

All old track is now gone/removed between Columbia and Northfield on the Waterloo Spur.

   

   

Work continues at the future R&T Park Station.  All the rails for the Gauntlet Track are now in place.

   

Crews were paving this morning at the Seagram crossing.  I had wondered how they were going to do the concrete work here, and the answer is, "they aren't" - they're simply paving the gauntlet track section here.  The complexity of all the small pieces of concrete probably wasn't worth it to them.

   

   

[Canard]

   

   

   

Future Waterloo Town Square station:

   

   

[Canard]

Track now in place on Caroline, at FDBD:

   

   

   

Caroline/Willis Way Station:

   

   

[GtwoK]

I'm surprised that Seagram is being paved already. Isn't it still scheduled to be closed for another week?

Also, I know very little about track; what is the purpose of gauntlet track, and why did they need to run it through the road here rather than between Seagram and University, where it's completely open space, track wise?

[Canard]

The gauntlet track is so that freight trains can bump out a little bit away from the platforms, so the (wider) freight train cars don't wipe out the canopy or platform edges. There will be Gauntlet Tracks at 4 stations - Northfield, R&T Park, UoWaterloo and Seagram, because those stops will be on the Spur which is shared with freight trains.

The Seagram station goes right to the road, so the switch point had to be North of Seagram, meaning the 4 rails for the SB track had to go through the road.  It would have been impractical to locate the switch in the middle of the road.

[timio]

Seagram was scheduled to be closed for a 2 week period which ends tomorrow.

Gauntlet track allows freight trains a bit more room when going past stations, so you'll only see it at the stations along the spur.

[rangersfan]

Thanks everyone for the awesome updates.

[KevinL]

There will be Gauntlet Tracks at 4 stations - Northfield, R&T Park, UoWaterloo and Seagram, because those stops will be on the Spur which is shared with freight trains.

Can't recall where I saw it, but my understanding for Northfield is that rather than gauntleting, the freight track will branch off south of the station and run to the west of it (so there will be three tracks throught the station corridor). The LRT tracks turn off the rail corridor just past that station, after all.

[Square]

Hmm. Interesting, The orange tarp looked like it was covering the same area as it was before. My eyes deceived me.

I don't think any more dirt needs to be brought in for Benton. When I saw it tonight, it was really well leveled out, perfect coat of top soil... looked just like other sections of road did right before paving. In fact, if it wasn't for the missing concrete section (they skipped one and did the ones on the opposite side, for some reason?), I'd say they would pour asphalt tomorrow. The base asphalt + top asphalt would be just enough to bring it up to the level of the manholes and what I assume are gas pipes.

That being said... they would definitely still need to work through the weekend. I also don't think it'll be opening Monday. I can't think of a single closure that wasn't delayed so far, surely this won't be any different! 

On this link they have Benton opening now November 20!   http://app.kitchener.ca/road_closure/es_...losure.asp

[Square]

There will be Gauntlet Tracks at 4 stations - Northfield, R&T Park, UoWaterloo and Seagram, because those stops will be on the Spur which is shared with freight trains.

Can't recall where I saw it, but my understanding for Northfield is that rather than gauntleting, the freight track will branch off south of the station and run to the west of it (so there will be three tracks throught the station corridor). The LRT tracks turn off the rail corridor just past that station, after all.

On page 23 of this PDF file is where it's shown, don't know if they are still doing that tho.   http://www.rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo..._Part1.pdf

[jamincan]

That tour train that ran to St. Jacobs from the train station near Uptown is supposed to run from Northfield station now, so the third track is essential if that will continue to be the plan.

[Viewfromthe42]

Also, if the photos showing the UpTown stop are accurate (with it being on the west side of king, rather than the east side), then either they'll need two tracks there where the station is (Northbound and freight) or a gauntlet track. I can't remember which it is supposed to be.