ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[cherrypark]

To be fair, the same applies to the road network: if we properly maintained it, it would be even more unreasonably expensive than it already is.

Oh man that's my dream... imagine if the average voter heard about how expensive the roads are as often as they heard about how expensive the LRT is.

I tried with comparing that short section of Highland getting an expansion being equal or greater cost than the whole downtown cycling grid network. Doesn't work.

[Bytor]

Oh man that's my dream... imagine if the average voter heard about how expensive the roads are as often as they heard about how expensive the LRT is.

I tried with comparing that short section of Highland getting an expansion being equal or greater cost than the whole downtown cycling grid network. Doesn't work.

It rarely works. The opposition just move the goalposts. I find that's when the idea of merit comes up as "only build it where there's enough cyclists".

[danbrotherston]

I tried with comparing that short section of Highland getting an expansion being equal or greater cost than the whole downtown cycling grid network. Doesn't work.

It rarely works. The opposition just move the goalposts. I find that's when the idea of merit comes up as "only build it where there's enough cyclists".

Yeah...this is something I've come to realize. The way to convince people is not to give them facts and figures. People who are convinced by facts and figures are already convinced--or at least not in opposition because they don't have any facts and figures.

The way to convince most people is to tell stories, give a compelling narrative. It's an unfortunate realization for me because I'm much better at facts and figures than I am at storytelling.

[ac3r]

Bad driving and surface running rapid transit meet again.

[panamaniac]

One starts to wonder whether it's intentional ....

[neonjoe]

90% of the LRT accidents are brought to you by Jay Fencing!

[jwilliamson]

https://mobile.twitter.com/threestations...9734325249

Apparently Waterloo has Canada's only electrified mainline railway tracks.

[danbrotherston]

Huh...I guess that's true. Sad...but technically true.

I wonder if the electrical systems could actually supply a mainline locomotive though. In some ways you think no way that would be built to those standards, we're just moving around a few little LRVs. But then you also look at how ridiculously overbuilt our system is (with the significant exception of pedestrian and station infra...because you know...wouldn't wanna spend too much on that) and frankly, it's possible that it would.

[KevinL]

I wonder if the electrical systems could actually supply a mainline locomotive though. 

It couldn't, as those trains must take the gauntlet tracks at Laurier, UW, and R&T, so the catenary would not be aligned properly.

[danbrotherston]

I wonder if the electrical systems could actually supply a mainline locomotive though. 

It couldn't, as those trains must take the gauntlet tracks at Laurier, UW, and R&T, so the catenary would not be aligned properly.

How far do the gauntlet tracks move the trains away from the stations? The catenary isn't a precise alignment, it's meant to shift around in fact, within some limits.

[jwilliamson]

It couldn't, as those trains must take the gauntlet tracks at Laurier, UW, and R&T, so the catenary would not be aligned properly.

How far do the gauntlet tracks move the trains away from the stations? The catenary isn't a precise alignment, it's meant to shift around in fact, within some limits.

The gauntlet can't be more than a 6 inch offset. I suspect an electric loco would have no trouble going slowly along the spur.

[ijmorlan]

How far do the gauntlet tracks move the trains away from the stations? The catenary isn't a precise alignment, it's meant to shift around in fact, within some limits.

The gauntlet can't be more than a 6 inch offset. I suspect an electric loco would have no trouble going slowly along the spur.

I believe it’s actually closer to 30cm, but that’s just a nitpick. I don’t know how much of an offset could work, but that doesn’t matter, because a second wire could be strung above the offset track. It might also be possible to just move the wire towards the offset track; I don’t know how widely it weaves back and forth normally but I wouldn’t be surprised if the gauntlet offset is within that range.

[taylortbb]

I wonder if the electrical systems could actually supply a mainline locomotive though. In some ways you think no way that would be built to those standards, we're just moving around a few little LRVs. But then you also look at how ridiculously overbuilt our system is (with the significant exception of pedestrian and station infra...because you know...wouldn't wanna spend too much on that) and frankly, it's possible that it would.

Power requirements really depend on acceleration, maintaining speed is easy. LRVs accelerate significantly faster than freight, which balances the electrical demand somewhat. I'm sure with sufficiently slow acceleration it could work in theory.

In practice, we have 750 VDC electrification. Common for trams, subways, occasional commuter rail, but not used by freight. So any locomotive would have to be custom for our system. At that point you could have a custom adjustable offset pantograph for the gauntlet track... but we're way into fantasy land.

[danbrotherston]

I wonder if the electrical systems could actually supply a mainline locomotive though. In some ways you think no way that would be built to those standards, we're just moving around a few little LRVs. But then you also look at how ridiculously overbuilt our system is (with the significant exception of pedestrian and station infra...because you know...wouldn't wanna spend too much on that) and frankly, it's possible that it would.

Power requirements really depend on acceleration, maintaining speed is easy. LRVs accelerate significantly faster than freight, which balances the electrical demand somewhat. I'm sure with sufficiently slow acceleration it could work in theory.

In practice, we have 750 VDC electrification. Common for trams, subways, occasional commuter rail, but not used by freight. So any locomotive would have to be custom for our system. At that point you could have a custom adjustable offset pantograph for the gauntlet track... but we're way into fantasy land.

I think using our 1-2 km of spur line track for electrified freight movement is already fantasy.

[nms]

Since we're in the realm of fantasy, how about this scenario:

1. Metrolinx finally electrifies the Kitchener corridor
2. CN uses the Kitchener corridor as a proof of concept for electric freight haulage since the catenary is in place (CN bought their first battery electric locomotive in November 2021; they last operated a pantograph electric locomotive in 1995)
3. The Waterloo spur is used as a test bed for short haul freight service up to Elmira, either using a catenary the whole way, or some other battery operated solution.