ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Probably just to get 'er done...?

Yeah, that's awesome about Francis! We used to live at the Kaufman Lofts - I would have loved to have been there now (and once service is running!) to watch this all unfold around me.

[panamaniac]

As we know, the Region is planning public art installations at various stations. A short time ago, a tour was arranged for artists aspiring to be commissioned, showing them the physical context of each site and having members of the community give cultural context.

Each of these presentations were filmed, as it turns out, and have just been posted to the Region's YouTube channel.

I watched the piece on the Mill Station site, which is of interest to me.  I see that they captured the historical dimension of the site (including the transit angle of the bus terminus - there was a small, dark green wooden bus stop with a peaked roof in the triangle that I remember from childhood.  It was also the site of one of the Eby farms, on the original Eby land grant, and they mention the orchards that were there until the 1950s (the Eby farmhouse and gardens stood down Mill where the seniors residence and neighbouring apartment building are now).  And they make the point, often forgotten I think, that Mill St is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) street in Kitchener - it apparently follows the path parallel to Schneiders Creek that the original Mennonite settlers would have followed.  That's a good bit of local history for what is now a fairly non-descript part of town.  Seems like terrific information for the successful artist to work with!

[Canard]

We've come a long way.  1 year ago today, the first permanent ion tracks were laid.

   

   

   

[Pheidippides]

King (looking south-ish) at William:
   

[GtwoK]

I don't have any good photos (it's 11:30pm, and the flash on my phone isn't helping), but Water has been completely repaved and painted. Sidewalks are also in on the south side of Duke between Water and Francis, and are in the middle of being built on the North side. Also: LRT curbs are going in on this same stretch! The track crossing at Water may not be going in during this closure, but it seems track might be laid along Duke and then down Francis first. I'm thinking, considering the Francis closure only took maybe 3 weeks with catpole foundations going in almost immediately, there must not have been any utilities running along Francis. Would've sped things up quite a bit! Looking forward to seeing these done, maybe even withing the next few weeks.

[Canard]

I don't have any good photos (it's 11:30pm, and the flash on my phone isn't helping), but Water has been completely repaved and painted. Sidewalks are also in on the south side of Duke between Water and Francis, and are in the middle of being built on the North side. Also: LRT curbs are going in on this same stretch! The track crossing at Water may not be going in during this closure, but it seems track might be laid along Duke and then down Francis first. I'm thinking, considering the Francis closure only took maybe 3 weeks with catpole foundations going in almost immediately, there must not have been any utilities running along Francis. Would've sped things up quite a bit! Looking forward to seeing these done, maybe even withing the next few weeks.

Could it be that the utilities are right down the centre? So, since the track is off to the side here, perhaps they didn't need to be relocated.

Here are some photos from this past week, looking down King from between Kitchener and Waterloo:

   

   

   

[Canard]

   
Work progresses on the trackwork at the intersection of Caroline and Allen.

   

   

   
Preparing the foundation for a TPSS, which will be installed on June 23.

[Canard]

Facebook reminded me what the corridor through Waterloo Park looked like when I took this first photo 4 years ago.

   

Here it is today:

   

I am sad we lost all those trees.  While it's going to be great seeing trains fly through here, the math of -Trees and +Fence aren't quite what I had hoped for, from an aesthetic outcome standpoint.

[tomh009]

Earlier this morning, near Charles & Stirling:

[tvot]

I am sad we lost all those trees.  While it's going to be great seeing trains fly through here, the math of -Trees and +Fence aren't quite what I had hoped for, from an aesthetic outcome standpoint.

Yeah. It seems like improving those fences is a lost cause for now. For Waterloo Park, maybe it can be brought up repeatedly in their promenade discussions, not sure how to approach getting rid of it on other parts of the route.

About the cut down trees on the non-path side, I always see plenty of vehicles parked or working back there, but I have no idea what they are doing back there. Does anyone know? It looks like the tracks, bridge, etc. are all close to done in that area and they did sewer & comms a few years ago in that area, so I'm not sure what else needs to be done. There are no plans to leave that area accessible as far as I can tell.

[KevinL]

A TPSS is going in there, and an access path across the tracks will be built. I don't think public access is intended, no.

[Pheidippides]

Miss a few days and so much to catch up on!

First, I have seen in various articles that the maximum penalty Bombardier is liable for is $3.3 million. My question is, is that per LRV or total for all 14? Capping it $3.3 million total seems like a pretty modest incentive. I think based on the revised, revised, schedule they would owe nearly $5 million without a cap:
   

Second, as for the location of the TPSS in Waterloo Park, it seems to be asking for trouble to be building something electrical in nature on a flood plain (one that floods quite regularly even with a heavy summer storm). That said it does look like they are taking additional precautions compared to the other TPSS’s installed to date.

Third, something doesn’t seem completely transparent about the latest delay from Bombardier. They have a good history of innovative and quality products, but are definitely having a tough time delivering on their promises at the moment. According to media reports everything was fine as May 13 and then suddenly as of May 19 there are new and unexpected and considerable delays. How could they not see a delay of this magnitude one week out?

Fourth, I saw that quote from Councillor Galloway in The Record saying construction as being behind schedule, but CTV quoted him as saying no construction delays are expected. So one of them got it wrong. If I had to guess I think what he probably said was there are certain areas of construction that are behind schedule (e.g. King/Victoria underpass), but that they expect to get caught up by the construction deadline.

Fifth, is there a publicly accessibly list of who is currently in Bombardier’s queue for each factory and where our vehicles are in that queue?

Finally, perhaps Bombardier could send some pallets for us to use as personal rapid transit until our LRVs are ready:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wfuvysl-UI

[timc]

Third, something doesn’t seem completely transparent about the latest delay from Bombardier. They have a good history of innovative and quality products, but are definitely having a tough time delivering on their promises at the moment. According to media reports everything was fine as May 13 and then suddenly as of May 19 there are new and unexpected and considerable delays. How could they not see a delay of this magnitude one week out?

If I read things correctly, there was a change in management before the May 13 report came out. I work in the software world, not hardware, but if I had to guess, they put out a preliminary warning and then had a week of meetings to assess where things really are and came up with the new timeline. If that is the case, then the new dates may be more trustworthy than we have had up until now. But it comes down to how well the project management team can get things together and deliver on their promises.

[dunkalunk]

Had to stop by Henry's for a camera bag. Took some photos with the camera on the way back to the terminal...
(click-through for Flickr album)


King and Northfield: mostly-graded


Quick and dirty in-camera panorama (bonus truncated vehicles)



The TPSS is big, grey and imposing. I personally think it needs more bears, or some other sort of colourful mural.


Piles of asphalt, aggregate, dirt, and jackhammered sidewalk make the bus entrance to Conestoga Mall impassable for busses. Stairs to platform look almost ready to be poured.


A view from the endzone Conestoga Station platform. TPSS still needs more bears.


Construction hasn't yet uprooted this landscaping. Bonus points if you can tell me what kind of shrubbery this is.

[panamaniac]

Bridle Wreath, a type of spirea, no?