ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[tomh009]

And finally...

...the installed signals at Courtland/Borden!  Our very first view of what a final intersection with embedded track in the urban environment will look like.

Very nice!

[KevinL]

Charles and Gaukel, and Charles and Ontario. 

Ah, but those are not yet level crossings (concrete is not poured). They're next on the list, though, obviously.

[GtwoK]

Noticed today that Caroline / Alexandria also has traffic light poles in place, though there are no actual lights on them yet.

[rangersfan]

Really appreciate the photo updates everyone!!

[tomh009]

Charles and Gaukel, and Charles and Ontario. 

Ah, but those are not yet level crossings (concrete is not poured). They're next on the list, though, obviously.

Sorry, it seems that I misunderstood your question!

[Pheidippides]

February 05, 2016 - Blockline Station area
   

   

   

   

February 06, 2016 - Uptown Waterloo
   

[GtwoK]

Eerie! Especially because of the mars-like tint from the sun.

[Markster]

On the Spur Line, they've been pouring the upper layer of ballast on the second track. This upper ballast is about as far south as University Ave now. They still need to level and tamp the ties, and smooth out the ballast. No sign of any of that south of R&T Park station yet.

[Coke6pk]

February 05, 2016 - Blockline Station area

Anyone know why the station area looks so far below the road level?  I thought the tracks were level w/ Courtland....

Coke

[timio]

February 05, 2016 - Blockline Station area

Anyone know why the station area looks so far below the road level?  I thought the tracks were level w/ Courtland....

Coke

It's likely that they're filling in soil at the same pace as the retaining wall is being built. We'll see the ground up at the same level as the road when all's said and done.

[Canard]

That is some serious terraforming going on at Courtland/Block Line! I have a really hard time visualizing how that's all going to look once complete.

[gomesjustin]

^ ditto. Had such a hard time trying to figure out in my head where everything would go on Courtland.

[Square]

I wonder if the Courtland portion is going to be embedded track?

[Canard]

Great question. I think it's embedded, but I'm not quite sure. It almost looks like it's balasted but contained within the concrete curbs. Here's an older PDF (page 28, 29) showing the cross section...

http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/..._Part7.pdf

(From http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/...nplans.asp)

I had asked about this a long while ago, and I thought they said the portion by Hayward was ballasted then switching to embedded near Courtland.

[jamincan]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but traffic has now switched to the north side of Northfield and the east side of King. This also means that the other quadrant of the interchange is now open and the one that had been in use is now closed.