ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Lots of trackwork on Charles.

   

   

   

[ijmorlan]

Future Cedar stop:

Great pictures, thanks!

I especially like the one close-up looking along the stacked rails.

Meanwhile, the second track is making its way south through UW campus. Last I saw they were laying ties on the ground at the mall next to campus, although I didn’t get a chance to get over there today.

[Canard]

Ermagerhd, my brain just exploded.  Thanks to Scott Stager Piatkowski on facebook for pointing this one out:

http://www.themidtownlofts.com/explore-midtown



...I... I don't even know how they screwed this up.  There are literally dozens of copies of the train in the correct orientation flying around online; there was no need to mirror it.

I just can't.

[plam]

Meanwhile, the second track is making its way south through UW campus. Last I saw they were laying ties on the ground at the mall next to campus, although I didn’t get a chance to get over there today.

Speaking of which, I noticed that the Laurel Creek trail is still closed south of University, but now it's more clear why it's been closed so long---it basically doesn't exist anymore, and is underneath the railbed.

[ijmorlan]

Meanwhile, the second track is making its way south through UW campus. Last I saw they were laying ties on the ground at the mall next to campus, although I didn’t get a chance to get over there today.

Speaking of which, I noticed that the Laurel Creek trail is still closed south of University, but now it's more clear why it's been closed so long---it basically doesn't exist anymore, and is underneath the railbed.

I don’t believe that is correct. I, um, observed close up, that it is still there running parallel to the track south from University. Right near Seagram the very last little bit was torn up during construction so there is no pavement surface there, but there is nothing about the terrain that prevents walking right through.

Remember the path was far from the tracks before, and the two new tracks surround the location of the original track, so even the southbound track is still some distance from the path. Near Seagram the tracks diverge a little to give space for the platform south of Seagram so the track is closer to the path but there is still plenty of space for the path.

I consider this to be a big fail, and further evidence of non-motorized traffic being treated as a second-class citizen. They wouldn’t close a road needlessly for months. To be clear, I have no problem with the path being closed for a few weeks while they work immediately next to it, but this has gone on way past any sort of reasonable closure given the nature and extent of the work being done in the area.

Even if you are correct that the original path route is underneath the tracks, the replacement path should have been paved and the route re-instated in the Fall.

[clasher]

Ermagerhd, my brain just exploded.  Thanks to Scott Stager Piatkowski on facebook for pointing this one out:

http://www.themidtownlofts.com/explore-midtown

...I... I don't even know how they screwed this up.  There are literally dozens of copies of the train in the correct orientation flying around online; there was no need to mirror it.

I just can't.

LOL look at the map on the "explore midtown" page. I think someone has a poor grasp on the local geography to be mild.

[ookpik]

I think someone has a poor grasp on the local geography to be mild.

Au contraire. The map was likely concocted by "professional marketers." Deception, if not outright lying, is in their job description.

[MidTowner]

LOL look at the map on the "explore midtown" page. I think someone has a poor grasp on the local geography to be mild.

Ugh...look at a real map, why didn't they.

"The New Midtown."

[chutten]

Today on my bike into work I saw the tanker train stopped on its return from Elmira just north of  Erb@Caroline.

Which was weird. I would've expected it to have cleared the city hours before.

I bike down spur line trail (As a counter-example to the nightmarish Laurel trail, it is really quite nice. They've done a good job of maintaining it through the winter as well) and by Len's Mill Store there's a red DERAIL marker clipped to the rail and a middle-of-the-track red rectangle.

Is the train stranded, mayhap?

[Canard]

Sounds like there's a major track issue (washout?) between the derail device and the train.

[kps]

They wouldn’t close a road needlessly for months.

Ha ha ha. Good one.

[KevinL]

Forgot to post these yesterday - and Canard has pipped me a bit - but here's another look at the Gaukel intersection area.



I love this bit of pedestrian accessibility!

[clasher]

In other LRT news, Tritag has a nifty station button set for sale as part of a fundraiser. Pretty chic!

[mboos]

[nms]

Today on my bike into work I saw the tanker train stopped on its return from Elmira just north of  Erb@Caroline.

Which was weird. I would've expected it to have cleared the city hours before.

I bike down spur line trail (As a counter-example to the nightmarish Laurel trail, it is really quite nice. They've done a good job of maintaining it through the winter as well) and by Len's Mill Store there's a red DERAIL marker clipped to the rail and a middle-of-the-track red rectangle.

Is the train stranded, mayhap?

Other than an obstruction of the tracks, there could be a couple of reasons that the train is parked where it is:
- End of the regulated crew shift and no time to bring in a new crew before the track movements have to stop for the Ion construction
- Engine or equipment failure and no time to bring in a new crew before the track movements have to stop for the Ion construction

The red flag indicates that there is something ahead that could be dangerous to approaching trains (for instance, a washout or a parked train).   The derail is there to stop a train from moving beyond that point.