ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Wigs]

Happy iONversary Waterluvians!

[Bob_McBob]

Another ION collision, just when I was thinking it was a while since the last one.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/crash-invol...-1.4993999

[bgb_ca]

Happy iONversary everyone. It's hard to believe it's already been one year since launch.

And at least a couple of months since anybody drove their vehicle into one of the trains! 

Another ION collision, just when I was thinking it was a while since the last one.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/crash-invol...-1.4993999

So... Can we blame Panamaniac for this one?

[Square]

Does not surprise me a bit. Was in that area around 7pm, I saw a car blow a red light at 60km and if the elderly lady wasn't already half way past, this person would have killed her!

I find that during this COVID, the drivers doing so many wrong things are not staying home, but driving around to show off and or that they own the roads?!

[jamincan]

And at least a couple of months since anybody drove their vehicle into one of the trains! 

Another ION collision, just when I was thinking it was a while since the last one.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/crash-invol...-1.4993999

So... Can we blame Panamaniac for this one?

Judging from the pictures, it looks like in this case the driver didn't drive into the LRV, so technically I think we're still in the clear on that front.

[danbrotherston]

Driving has absolutely gotten worse during COVID. This is confirmed by the police themselves. 

But yeah it has been a while. CTV commentors have missed their whining. Course it's the same day that news that the LRT is popular among businesses so they have to deny reality even harder now.

[panamaniac]

And at least a couple of months since anybody drove their vehicle into one of the trains! 

Another ION collision, just when I was thinking it was a while since the last one.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/crash-invol...-1.4993999

So... Can we blame Panamaniac for this one?

I confess that I felt a moment's guilt, like I jinxed it!

[panamaniac]

Does not surprise me a bit.  Was in that area around 7pm, I saw a car blow a red light at 60km and if the elderly lady wasn't already half way past, this person would have killed her!

I find that during this COVID, the drivers doing so many wrong things are not staying home, but driving around to show off and or that they own the roads?!

Did the driver "blow a red light"?  More likely turned in front of the moving train, no, like most of these crashes have been?

[danbrotherston]

Does not surprise me a bit.  Was in that area around 7pm, I saw a car blow a red light at 60km and if the elderly lady wasn't already half way past, this person would have killed her!

I find that during this COVID, the drivers doing so many wrong things are not staying home, but driving around to show off and or that they own the roads?!

Did the driver "blow a red light"?  More likely turned in front of the moving train, no, like most of these crashes have been?

Given the four in hospital injuries and the fairly serious damage to the LRV, I would guess this was a bit more high speed than most no look right turns.

[panamaniac]

Did the driver "blow a red light"?  More likely turned in front of the moving train, no, like most of these crashes have been?

Given the four in hospital injuries and the fairly serious damage to the LRV, I would guess this was a bit more high speed than most no look right turns.

Could be, as the damage to the passenger side of the truck was considerable.  I was speculating, based on the damage to the train, which seemed to be in the front corner.

[KevinT]

So that's #24 on my tracker, an average of two a month. (I actually only have notes for 23, but the media reported the July 8, 2019 collisions as #7 and #8 when I was only at 5 up to that point. No idea which one I'm missing or if their count was just off.)

[Square]

Does not surprise me a bit.  Was in that area around 7pm, I saw a car blow a red light at 60km and if the elderly lady wasn't already half way past, this person would have killed her!

I find that during this COVID, the drivers doing so many wrong things are not staying home, but driving around to show off and or that they own the roads?!

Did the driver "blow a red light"?  More likely turned in front of the moving train, no, like most of these crashes have been?

I don't know.  My comment was a different scenario, not related to the LRT collision.

[Bob_McBob]

The official collision count up to the end of March was 30, so a few have been missed by the train nerds, plus the media rarely reports on them anymore. There was apparently one on June 8 where an ebike was hit and the rider was knocked off, but I assume there were no significant injuries since it wasn't in the news. 

[Bytor]

Cost per mile of light rail is typically ~$100M (USD) /mile

Not sure on exact figure but let's say ION cost $900M.
900/12 = $75M/mile or roughly $55M (USD) /mile

I think compared to a typical American light rail, Waterloo did it quicker (once actual construction started)and much less expensive.

Your "typical" cost is more comparable to the cost of elevated rail at $150M/km of double track.

On ground electrified rail is around $45M/km of double track.

[Bob_McBob]

Also I was looking at the latest council report on ION and there are a few interesting points.

• A bunch of revenue, boarding, and ridership data that's hard to draw any conclusions from due to the transit strike and COVID-19.
  
• Bombardier has essentially halted warranty deficiency work on the LRVs since February, again due to COVID-19.
  
• Bombardier is replacing deficient welds on 11 of the region's LRVs at the OMSF over the next two years. They claim the issue poses no safety risk but is being done to meet the expected 30 years service life.
  
• Bombardier is building a spare LRV for the region in Kingston, to be delivered late 2020 or early 2021.
  
• Approximately 11% of fares are inspected daily. 3% of inspected riders have not paid their fare, and approximately 35 people are charged with provincial offences related to fares every month.
  
• The region didn't anticipate the failure rate with platform validators and had to order more spare units as a result.
  
• Various work was done on the fare system during the free fare period, including altering the fare payment terminals to improve cashless transaction speed (has anyone noticed improvements?).