ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[panamaniac]

I assume the extra wide sidewalk will facilitate patios, sidewalks sales, etc...but how obtrusive will the trains every few minutes be?

Not very, I suspect.

[danbrotherston]

I assume the extra wide sidewalk will facilitate patios, sidewalks sales, etc...but how obtrusive will the trains every few minutes be?

Not very, I suspect.

Indeed!  I've sat on a patio along a street with a tram, it was far less annoying than high volumes of car traffic.

[ijmorlan]

Not very, I suspect.

Indeed!  I've sat on a patio along a street with a tram, it was far less annoying than high volumes of car traffic.

I remember at the 2011 public Council meeting former mayor of Waterloo Joan McKinnon made an amazingly ridiculous presentation complaining about massive loud trains rolling up King St. and making the outdoor patios unuseable. OK, maybe true of constant large freight trains but the idea that an LRT lane is more obnoxious than a general traffic lane with trucks is just absurd. Some people don’t know when to stay retired. King St. will be wonderful with the LRT running up it. I just wish they had thought ahead when rebuilding the west side of the street. If those new buildings had been placed maybe 7m further back then there would have been plenty of room for both directions of LRT traffic to run on King St.

[Canard]

I assume the extra wide sidewalk will facilitate patios, sidewalks sales, etc...but how obtrusive will the trains every few minutes be?

Yeah - Tim Mollison of TriTag confirmed they're for patios.

...you're kidding about the obtrusive thing though, right?!



Isn't it so awful?  

(...and if you've been wondering "what's that high-pitched squeal I always hear with new-ish LRV's?" - the noise comes from the motor controller: a Variable Frequency Drive, a very common and efficient way of controlling large AC motors. My favourite is still the controller used on Montreal's MR-73 trains, though! Nothing beats hearing the first three notes of Fanfare for the Common Man every time a train leaves a station.)

[DHLawrence]

Which is an echo of the door chime. Pity the new trains don't have it.

[Canard]

Which is an echo of the door chime. Pity the new trains don't have it.

No!  The Door Chime came decades later - only in the last 5 years or so.  The door chime was designed to sound like the choppers!

Agreed 100% on AZUR - I'm heartbroken they're nearly silent.  I have no use for them.    Except for the door strip lighting.  I'll take THAT.

I have *so much anxiety* about noises and chimes and what voice they pick for the automated announcements on our trains.  I know we're getting "TTC Chime" for doors, and the motor noises should be near-identical to the FLEXITY Outlooks running in Toronto...

[danbrotherston]

...

I have *so much anxiety* about noises and chimes and what voice they pick for the automated announcements on our trains.  I know we're getting "TTC Chime" for doors, and the motor noises should be near-identical to the FLEXITY Outlooks running in Toronto...

We're getting the TTC door Chime!  Somehow I am both happily excited and disappointed at the same time--I really like TTCs chime, but it would have been neat to have something all our own.

[Canard]

Ooo, two big trucks just showed up at Seagram/Laurier/Waterloo Park. One has a whackload of panels – according to the Project Agreement, these are likely ballast cap panels, which will go down on top of the track through any of the stations along the spur lines!

[boatracer]

Will those ballast caps accommodate the gauntlet tracks at the stations? I guess the only ones I have ever seen are at road crossings.

[Canard]

Yes! I asked the same question. I'm told they will have narrow and wide sections. Can't wait to check it out later!

[ijmorlan]

I assume the extra wide sidewalk will facilitate patios, sidewalks sales, etc...but how obtrusive will the trains every few minutes be?

Yeah - Tim Mollison of TriTag confirmed they're for patios.

...you're kidding about the obtrusive thing though, right?!



Isn't it so awful?  

(...and if you've been wondering "what's that high-pitched squeal I always hear with new-ish LRV's?" - the noise comes from the motor controller: a Variable Frequency Drive, a very common and efficient way of controlling large AC motors.  My favourite is still the controller used on Montreal's MR-73 trains, though!  Nothing beats hearing the first three notes of Fanfare for the Common Man every time a train leaves a station.)

Awesome Strasbourg video. It really illustrates how the LRT integrates closely with the rest of the city right around it.

I wasn’t aware of the motor startup noise on the Montreal metro. That is very cool.

[danbrotherston]

Yes! I asked the same question. I'm told they will have narrow and wide sections. Can't wait to check it out later!

If they are able to use panels, I really hope they replace the road crossings with panels on the gauntlet tracks.  They're rough enough as it is.

[Pheidippides]

I was at the crossing at Seagram over lunch and they appeared to be testing the lights and bells, but not the arms. Despite the lights and bells working, and no workers waving people through, I was astonished to see that not one motorist slowed down even the slightest to see if a train might be coming.

[Canard]

Ooof. This is a bit of a knock back:

King, from Victoria to Moore (including the King/Moore intersection), is closed for construction of the King Street Grade Separation until spring 2017

(...from the latest ion update)

[Pheidippides]

Ouch. I was hoping the seven and express could at least get off detour long before the trains started.

That could get expensive for GrandLinq if that section was tied to one of the performance milestones. Wasn't the penalty $23,000 a day?

Looks like they are ontrack for Uptown deadlines though.