ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[KevinL]

My statement was pure speculation, yes. I was simply reiterating the information we do have, in the absence of anything official.

[ert86]

September 2019 here we come.

  i think you might be right

GRT posted that EasyGo cards will be available March 1st and paper passes and tickets will be sold till May, BUT also said tickets will stop being accepted when ION starts.  Can't sell tickets in May if ION service starts in June, July...

[jason897]

Kevin, please don’t state that as fact. That’s pure speculation.

I assume you mean Kevin's statement about the signaling system?

What's the most trains that have been active at any one time so far?

And how many trains have yet to make an appearance? I think 501 for sure but there may be others ...

501 has yet to make an appearance, and 503 has yet to make an appearance since FIE was installed (last time it was seen on the line was possibly last February). Unless it snuck out for a bit in the last few days when we weren't watching.

4 is the most.

All I’m saying is while 4 is the upper limit of what they’ll test until ATP is activated.... perhaps you should wait until the vehicle update is out for deciding that that is the sole reason we’ve only ever seen four..........

Repost of what I had commented before on the FB group:

On Dec 19 we may have had 6 out - https://www.facebook.com/groups/81680629...535479051/ Based on spotting 4 for sure, then as I had other stuff I had to get to I wasn't able to watch closely but I believe I saw 2 more pass from a distance. In addition to 502, 513, 514 depicted there was also 512, and possibly 511 and 508. Don't recall more recent instances we've had at least 6 but it's possible I missed it
...

But I could be wrong here, if you know I am then tell me

[ijmorlan]

It’s absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible that we have to speculate like this. There should be an Ion blog which tells us exactly how many vehicles are out and what they are doing (e.g., “today we are testing operation of interlocking in the presence of 4 vehicles”, or “today drivers at the 2nd stage of training are practicing normal service operations”). No excuses. Nobody has a legitimate interest in keeping secret any of this stuff. This is not a matter of national security.

[danbrotherston]

It’s absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible that we have to speculate like this. There should be an Ion blog which tells us exactly how many vehicles are out and what they are doing (e.g., “today we are testing operation of interlocking in the presence of 4 vehicles”, or “today drivers at the 2nd stage of training are practicing normal service operations”). No excuses. Nobody has a legitimate interest in keeping secret any of this stuff. This is not a matter of national security.

Sadly this is entirely par for the course for big projects of any kind...even private ones.  And I think there is a fear of embarrassment or having mistakes be exposed.

But if John Griffin's unbelievably openness with the work being done in Waterloo park has proven anything, it's that people would rather have open communication than see people trying to hide setbacks or being unclear etc.

Open communication is very beneficial in terms of public relations, even if it does have some risks.

[Canard]

Theme parks learned years ago that people are genuinely interested in following along, and they opened up to the community and embraced it, offering construction tours, photo ops, and lots of blog posts and photo updates.

But most parks have built dozens of rides so their teams get to learn from each one what to do, and what not to do. I guess since this is the first (and last) time the Region will undertake something of this magnitude, I guess they just kind of struck it out on their own and made it up as they went along.

"Thanks for reaching out"

[Spokes]

Is that expected to be actually reached, or just that's what they're allowed to go?

In some sections of the ballasted track they will be going that speed, others they will come close. The speed in the embedded sections is restricted to 50 km/h maximum.

When the trains are in a totally isolated area (not in mixed traffic) what kind of speeds will they do?  I'm thinking between Mill and Block Line for example

70 km/h on the Fairway Corridor, Mill Spur, and Waterloo Spur!

Thank you both!!

[tomh009]

It’s absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible that we have to speculate like this. There should be an Ion blog which tells us exactly how many vehicles are out and what they are doing (e.g., “today we are testing operation of interlocking in the presence of 4 vehicles”, or “today drivers at the 2nd stage of training are practicing normal service operations”). No excuses. Nobody has a legitimate interest in keeping secret any of this stuff. This is not a matter of national security.

Sadly this is entirely par for the course for big projects of any kind...even private ones.  And I think there is a fear of embarrassment or having mistakes be exposed.

Actually, Grandlinq was far more open about the construction progress. It's during this phase that they have clammed up.

[Spokes]

Theme parks learned years ago that people are genuinely interested in following along, and they opened up to the community and embraced it, offering construction tours, photo ops, and lots of blog posts and photo updates.

But most parks have built dozens of rides so their teams get to learn from each one what to do, and what not to do.  I guess since this is the first (and last) time the Region will undertake something of this magnitude, I guess they just kind of struck it out on their own and made it up as they went along.

"Thanks for reaching out"

Do you think this will impact phase 2?

[Canard]

Sorry... I didn't mean anything by that.

Agreed with Tom's statement - GrandLinq did a fantastic job with communication. The Region, on the other hand, has not. It's not been terrible, but like... 6/10 kinda thing. The draws for socks are cute (even though my feet are still bare!!).

[jeffster]

The main source of delay at this point would be the automated signaling system. We know it's not running yet (we've yet to see more than 4 trains at a time), and until it is we can't say an absolute date.

Speculation

This is a known issue with Windows 95 -- and not available for later OS's.

They should have stuck with Linux (Unix based)...or even QNX (which technically is Unix based too). (EDIT: Meant Unix, not Linux)

/speculation....

[taylortbb]

They should have stuck with Linux...or even QNX (which technically is Linux based).

Majorly off topic... QNX isn't Linux based. It's a fully custom kernel, with a totally different architecture (micro vs monolithic kernel). They both have design heritage (but not code) from Unix.

And now to return to regularly scheduled programming...

[tomh009]

They should have stuck with Linux...or even QNX (which technically is Linux based).

Majorly off topic... QNX isn't Linux based. It's a fully custom kernel, with a totally different architecture (micro vs monolithic kernel). They both have design heritage (but not code) from Unix.

And now to return to regularly scheduled programming...

First release of QNX predates Linux by almost 10 years, too. Incidentally, QNX was created by two UW grads, Gordon Bell and Dan Dodge.

[jeffster]

They should have stuck with Linux...or even QNX (which technically is Linux based).

Majorly off topic... QNX isn't Linux based. It's a fully custom kernel, with a totally different architecture (micro vs monolithic kernel). They both have design heritage (but not code) from Unix.

And now to return to regularly scheduled programming...

Oops..I meant Unix....serves me right for posting at night. I'll edit my original post.

[Canard]

Any activity today or news to share about the project?