ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[timc]

I saw two trains yesterday evening at the Seagram station. One left the station and the other stayed behind.

[Spokes]

Yesterday from 1:30 to 2:30 pm I saw 3 LRVs go southbound by King and Victoria. So I assume it's going ok?

Oh wow, ok - so it’s just my bad luck. Bummer - I haven’t seen anything for so long I’ve forgotten what the things look like.

Withdrawl?

[ijmorlan]

What on earth is going on with testing (or the lack thereof) in the last several days?

It could be just that there's nothing left to test and so Bombardier and GrandLinq are taking all this time to work on any remaining deficiencies. We might not know more until next week.

And this is why they should communicate. They act as if they’re covering up some massive Presidential scandal, or running some sophisticated counter-terrorism operation and don’t want to tip their hand.

[Canard]

It's always the same bullshit:

Thanks for reaching out. We are working toward spring for service launch but do not have an exact date at this time.

I am so glad I reached out. I just love "reaching out".

[KevinL]

It's clear the PR people on the social media accounts have very specific instructions on what to share, and to say when they can't. You shouldn't expect anything more from them.

[urbd]

It could be just that there's nothing left to test and so Bombardier and GrandLinq are taking all this time to work on any remaining deficiencies. We might not know more until next week.

And this is why they should communicate. They act as if they’re covering up some massive Presidential scandal, or running some sophisticated counter-terrorism operation and don’t want to tip their hand.

It's always the same bullshit:

Thanks for reaching out. We are working toward spring for service launch but do not have an exact date at this time.

I am so glad I reached out.  I just love "reaching out".

It's clear the PR people on the social media accounts have very specific instructions on what to share, and to say when they can't. You shouldn't expect anything more from them.

I agree. This is frustrating. I mean if you (we) feel like you deserve more information as a tax paying and involved citizen that cares about the place they live, you can always take it to the next level: start a petition, get signatures, contact council, etc. I'm sure many of us would be happy to support any of these initiatives.  Transparency is just a basic expectation for big public infrastructure projects that we have the right to ask for.

[ijmorlan]

It's clear the PR people on the social media accounts have very specific instructions on what to share, and to say when they can't. You shouldn't expect anything more from them.

I’m not saying the people staffing the social media accounts are doing their jobs wrong. I’m saying the project is. I don’t know enough about how it is organized to be able to say who, specifically, is doing the wrong thing, but I feel confident asserting that they could and should be sharing more, and I find it not credible that there is some good reason of which I am unaware for the cone of silence.

[Canard]

Have a look at the website for Rennes' ligne b project, the world premiere of Siemens Cityval:

http://www.metro-rennes-metropole.fr/accueil

They have a monthly video, which is usually about 5 minutes or so, shot by professionals showing off everything they've done in the previous month. And they've been doing this for years!

Only recently did they shut off the webcam which they had, focused on the Garage Atelier (their "OMSF") - it was so fun to watch it come together. It's now complete - presumably why they finally turned it off.

What do we get? "Your call cannot be completed as dialed..."

[KevinL]

Looks like the CBC put some info together: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5064316

The vehicles still need to be tested, integrated into the control system, and there's also an issue with reliability. Schmidt says sometimes during testing, the vehicles will have a glitch and the software used to run them needs to be rebooted.
The reboot takes a few minutes, but Schmidt says it would not be acceptable to make passengers wait and potentially disrupt the transit schedule.
"Those are not issues we want to see customers deal with," he said, noting Bombardier is working through the problems and fixing the software.

[ijmorlan]

What do we get?  "Your call cannot be completed as dialed..."

That gives me an idea. All those years of “doo dee DEE … please hang up, and try your call again”? They should have been saying “thanks for reaching out. Your call will be ignored in the order it was received”.

[Bob_McBob]

Looks like the CBC put some info together: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5064316

None of the language in the quotes makes me feel particularly optimistic they are going to hit the spring 2019 deadline. Also worth pointing out Tom Galloway said the region hoped to announce a date for start of service near the end of March, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're about to do that.

[Rainrider22]

Looks like the CBC put some info together: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5064316

None of the language in the quotes makes me feel particularly optimistic they are going to hit the spring 2019 deadline. Also worth pointing out Tom Galloway said the region hoped to announce a date for start of service near the end of March, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're about to do that.

Hmmmm... I concur with your thoughts !

[jeffster]

It's always the same bullshit:

Thanks for reaching out. We are working toward spring for service launch but do not have an exact date at this time.

I am so glad I reached out.  I just love "reaching out".

I work for the .gov and even managers and directors get the "thanks for reaching out". The public think we have answers, we don't.

[tomh009]

Looks like the CBC put some info together: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5064316

None of the language in the quotes makes me feel particularly optimistic they are going to hit the spring 2019 deadline. Also worth pointing out Tom Galloway said the region hoped to announce a date for start of service near the end of March, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're about to do that.

I don't really see any major roadblocks in the quotes:

• One speed sensor needs to be installed
  
• Testing and control system integration is in progress
  
• A software update is needed to eliminate the need to restart the software
  
• Grandlinq has some construction work remaining
  

[Bob_McBob]

It's not the specific work they mention, it's the incredibly non-committal language used throughout. They won't even say they'll hit the target date once they announce it, just that they "want to".