ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Thanks for the update, Canard! When is the first test vehicle expected to arrive? I forget if it's in October or December of this year.

We'll get our first train here in Waterloo in December. Will be by Millhaven this weekend -but I don't think any of the 3 first trains have left Thunder Bay (for Millhaven) yet.

Thanks for the update, Kevin.

[Canard]

1/3 - Friday, July 29, 2016

   
Here are a couple of shots from the future Allen station area.  When this man saw me taking the photo, he jumped into frame and "posed".  

   
Looking South along King; that's Union in the foreground.

   
Looking back North, at the Allen station platform.  The rails now in place were the ones they pulled last Sunday morning.

   
The new tracks are now fully laid (and connected) through Erb/Caroline.

   
Another Dwarf signal - this time at University of Waterloo. These are everywhere there is a gauntlet track switch; probably to indicate the position of the switch. I'll get to those black squares between the rails in a moment.

[Canard]

2/3 - Friday, July 29

   
Looking North along the spur from Columbia. I originally thought the black squares were track detectors...

   
...but they're not. They are electrical connections - you can see the grounding connection that completes the circuit for the catenary. Those are some thick wires!

   
R&T Park station.  Look at that!  One of the new dwarf signals is illuminated.

   

   
Discovered this little outcropping/overlook of the R+T Park station.  I have a feeling when vehicle testing and burn-in begins, I'll just set up my lawn chair here.    Of note:  The pathway over to the Philip side seems to be just about complete - just not connected.  That building on the far side is a prime location!

[Canard]

3/3 - Friday, July 29

   
The former staging area just East of the tracks at Seagram is now being converted into a parking lot, to replace the one that will be removed on the other side of the tracks. They moved fast here!

[Canard]

GrandLinq brings in specialized crews from U.S. as rails gets welded in place - The Record

Love the photo!

[chutten]

The new tracks are now fully laid (and connected) through Erb/Caroline.

They were flooding with ballast this morning. I hadn't been through in some time and was excitedly hoping they were ready to switch the heavy rail over tonight (there's a derail sign on the new track)... but the track just peters out at King, connected to nothing, so boo-urns.

I wonder how they're going to connect the new with the old at King. The single-welded rail through Waterloo will be smooth sailing for the freight trains used to 12-foot rail segments.

[Canard]

Probably sort of how they've been temporarily been doing it along the Waterloo Spur so far (well, mostly last fall) - they just drill holes in the side of the new rail, and use fish plates to bolt the rail segments together.

[GtwoK]

Curbs are being poured on Duke from Water to Young right now

[ert86]

Lost of work at Conestoga Mall today.  Paving Northfield, concrete pouring at the station and i think some of those pre-rolled rail sections were put down recently.

Also, I find it odd that they need 2 signals on Columbia/University, you'd think someone would have invented a 2 in 1 signal that blocks both the road and sidewalk.  With the craziness of Pokemon Go, having signals that block sidewalks was actually a smart idea, given how absent minded they are.

[Canard]

The pedestrian signal arms are standard fare for railways.

[Canard]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Beautiful evening tonight along the line. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/zyNxhaosHU">pic.twitter.com/zyNxhaosHU</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/760642237319577600">August 3, 2016</a></blockquote>

Disclaimer: Was at the hospital anyway - wasn't using the parking lot just for taking photos!

[Pheidippides]

1) re: the tram sign; if it is a prototype, why bother to physically make it and mount it before tweeting an image out to get feedback?

2) re: the pedestrian crossings along the hydro corridor; the project agreement says that all the "crossings" are to be closed by the project co. I don't think this approach will work and kind of creates a bit of a "food desert" for some. Humans are lazy (or perhaps efficient) and will take the path of least resistance, especially when it comes to basic needs, shelter, food, employment, the former in abundance along Traynor (and the surrounding neighbourhood) and the latter two are in abundance along Fairway. People will cross the tracks so why not take the harm reduction approach and make the crossings as simple and safe as possible so that the majority of people are crossing at predictable locations and predictable times. I was running along that stretch of the hydro corridor very early Sunday morning and saw at people hopping fences and crossing the tracks at two different places already (I also noted one former opening/gap in the otherwise unbroken fence, but I think will end up being a locked gate for maintenance purposes and not a formal crossing).

[Canard]

1) re: the tram sign; if it is a prototype, why bother to physically make it and mount it before tweeting an image out to get feedback?

The reason I was given was that they wanted to see what it looked like in before making hundreds, and get feedback (and boy, feedback did they get). Based on that feedback, an improved version will be coming (which I'm very happy with, since it's a new Ontario LRT standard! Standards are fun.)

[GtwoK]

Duke, from Water to Young





Hm. Duke / Young is currently closed for 10 days (well, 5 more now). I assumed it'd be for track placement as I'm not sure why they'd need such a short closure or why they'd want to close it AGAIN after this. But just walked by and there's not even a hole in the ground. Just fences blocking entry for no apparent reason. Think they'll pull another Queen and spend the last 3 days installing track?

[Canard]

1/2 - Wednesday, August 3, 2016

   
Up at Northfield, the curve linking the track on the spur onto Northfield itself is beginning to take shape.

   
The first step: Laying out the pre-rolled tight radius rail segments. The additional third rail is the restraining rail, used on any curves with a radius of less than 150 m.

   
Both tracks on the Northfield station are now embedded.

   
Looking East across the Northfield bridge, both tracks are now embedded in concrete.

   
On the far side of the bridge, another huge section awaits concrete. The pace here is frantic.