ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

I just saw two pass northbound along King St. in Uptown. First one went by while we were waiting to cross over from the west side of King; then when we had walked to maybe Regina we heard a honk behind us and caught the second one going by. The two were much closer than they will be in normal service, although there was still maybe a couple of minutes between them.

Speaking of gaps, does anybody understand how the signalling system regulates gaps, or if it does? I have observed an LRT running southbound knocking down the signal at Seagrem from green to red, but it’s not clear to me when it would go back to green. And on the northbound track I don’t believe there are any signals between Bauer (Erb and Caroline and associated crossovers) and the crossover south of the OMSF. So I don’t see how it can be a block type of system. Or is some of the signalling in the cab? But if so, why not all of it?

[trainspotter139]

I just saw two pass northbound along King St. in Uptown. First one went by while we were waiting to cross over from the west side of King; then when we had walked to maybe Regina we heard a honk behind us and caught the second one going by. The two were much closer than they will be in normal service, although there was still maybe a couple of minutes between them.

Speaking of gaps, does anybody understand how the signalling system regulates gaps, or if it does? I have observed an LRT running southbound knocking down the signal at Seagrem from green to red, but it’s not clear to me when it would go back to green. And on the northbound track I don’t believe there are any signals between Bauer (Erb and Caroline and associated crossovers) and the crossover south of the OMSF. So I don’t see how it can be a block type of system. Or is some of the signalling in the cab? But if so, why not all of it?

The signals on the spur where the gauntlet tracks are aren't designed to be block signals they are designed to be switch interlocking signals. They are designed to warn of switch position for the gauntlet tracks. Green being normal (straight through), Yellow being reverse (diverging track), Red being either out of correspondence (a switch position that isn't known or is currently being changed) or switch block occupied (switch points lock when a train occupies a set path between two points). When in operation those signals will automatically reset themselves for LRVs as the ATP system will control spacing between LRVs in the ATP sections by regulating the speed of LRVs in a moving block fashion rather than fixed block.

[Canard]

1/2 - Sunday, December 2, 2018

Another full day of testing, in the low, warm, winter sun!  I was so giddy, and happy to be biking along in my T-shirt (in December!!) to capture these shots!

   

   

   

   

   

[Canard]

2/2 - Sunday, December 2, 2018

   

   

   

   

   

[panamaniac]

I'm sure it's been discussed previously, but what is the anticipated stop time for Ion at each of the stations?

[MacBerry]

I agree that the current median is not intended for walking on, my point was that it should have never have been built that narrow to begin with. What’s more of a safety hazard is people using a space for purposes other than it was designed and intended.
 
They have created a safety hazard by not thinking about how humans will actually use the space. No one getting off the train and heading to KPL or Centre in the Square etc. is going to take a huge distance and time penalty (94m penalty for one-car train, 156m penalty for a two-car train) to walk back to King, cross the street, and walk back towards Duke.
 
They will take the shortest path sign or no sign.
 
Platform is 2.7m wide where it currently ends.
Platform narrows to 1.3m in middle.
Platform end is 1.5m.


 
They needed to add 27.3sq.m to the median to make it the same width as the end of the platform.

 
Which they could have easily have accommodated on the other side (it wouldn’t even take away from usable sidewalk space since no one can walk between the utility boxes and the road anyway):

Thanks for the detailed analysis. This gives me some hope that it might be corrected in the future; since it appears it can be fixed without changing where the tracks are, it could be done as part of a future renovation of the street. We just need to get the road designers to understand that there is a problem.

In the meantime, people will probably walk on the tracks. Fortunately, that isn’t that bad in this case: either they just got off a train and are leaving the stop, in which case they can walk behind the departing vehicle, with another not due for several minutes; or they are walking to the stop, in which case they will normally be facing train traffic, which furthermore needs to stop at the station before proceeding. Not ideal, but also nowhere near as dangerous as walking in a motor vehicle lane.

In Europe people walk on, through and over transit tracks all the time as people flow is not as controlled as we seem to be doing here. Usually this is not where traffic is also happening but people are always moving through transit lanes.

[trainspotter139]

Up the spur they go! 514 and 501 headed up the spur on tonight's train

[Bob_McBob]

Just went past UW. Very shiny 

[bgb_ca]

Just went past UW. Very shiny 

Here's my video for those that missed it

[bgb_ca]

And if anyone wants to see the complete collection, it's at this link

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...rBYvxkHl_c

And no, if the region orders more, I'm not doing a second collection, as it will likely be really late on those deliveries.

[timio]

Disconnected the third spacer car for the trip up the spur, or didn't have one on the end this time?

[trainspotter139]

Disconnected the third spacer car for the trip up the spur, or didn't have one on the end this time?

The third spacer car stays in Lancaster Yard when they bring it up. It's not needed for the nightly train as they shunt the LRVs to the last cars of the train. The CN Freights from Kingston to Mac Yard and from Mac Yard to Kitchener however may have them in the middle so they use an extra spacer for the end.

[Momo26]

It's funny how we get so excited about the *testing* of a streetcar haha. So long awaited, we should actually be up in arms with the City on the delays should we not? But I'm too Canadian for that :p. It's okay, I was just as excited about the opening of a desperately needed new Zehrs in Pioneer plaza - I even visited on opening day before work ha.

I was thinking, whilst on an express bus from Fairview mall to Charles Terminal - there is no way the LRT will be able to do that run any faster or even equal to that run, with the stops in between and the speed at which it travels (seemingly based on testing)...am I wrong?

[robdrimmie]

I was thinking, whilst on an express bus from Fairview mall to Charles Terminal - there is no way the LRT will be able to do that run any faster or even equal to that run, with the stops in between and the speed at which it travels (seemingly based on testing)...am I wrong?

I misread this as terminal to terminal. I'm not sure what the actual schedule will be, but there's a good chance the LRT can go faster from the Fairway stop to the Victoria Park stop than a bus because for much of the stretch along Fairview and Courtland the LRT is off the streets and will be going 70km/h. Once it gets back on the streets it might be able to travel a bit faster than the 200 because it will get priority signalling at intersection. In general though the LRT is not going to be much faster than a bus, but nor is it supposed to be. Its timing will be more consistent since it will be slightly less impacted by other traffic on the roads, and there's a lot more room so its capacity will be greater.

[Spokes]

So I'm on the UW campus today and tomorrow for work. Any chance I see some testing??