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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
Meanwhile on the Waterloo Spur, I was standing not long ago at Quiet Place. The arms went down, and then I watched them go down at Bearanger.... THEN I saw a train slowly approaching from the North at 20 km/h. The arms stayed down until the train went past, so they were down for many minutes.

A few days ago I saw a train stopped on the curve at Hayward onto Courtland, and it had already triggered all the gates beyond the Block Line Station, which meant traffic was completely snarled.

Lots, lots, lots of work to do still.
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I’m not sure if the heavy rail standards apply to LRT at all or to LRT on heavy rail track, but the standards are here:
https://www.tc.gcca/media/documents/rail...df#page=46

It seems a bit complicated.
 
Descent of the gate arm must take at least 10 seconds.
If a rail vehicle is travelling >25kph the gate arm must be horizontal at least 5 seconds before the vehicle’s arrival (if the vehicle is travelling <25kph the gate arm must be horizontal at time of vehicle arrival).
Ascent of the gate arm must take at least 6 seconds.
Plus the travel time of the train across the crossing.
 
So for most of the crossings along the spur you are looking at at least 10+5+6+crossing time = total time (seconds).
 
So for Columbia (~30m crossing width) where the limit is 50 you are looking at a minimum of 10+5+6+3 = 24 seconds with the crossing arms down.
 
It seems like the rest of the warning system has different standards (see below). It looks like the lights and bells will be on at least 26 seconds before the rail vehicle even arrives (20 seconds + 1sec per 3m extra width above 11m). I think that recent video of  511 at Hayward showed the arms and lights activated a good 1min 15sec beforehand, but hopefully that gets tightened up; imagine a 1min plus of forewarning every 4min.
 
 
15.2 Gates
15.2.1 The gate arm must be installed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the road approach.
15.2.2 The descent of the gate arm must take 10 to 15 seconds and its ascent must take 6 to 12 seconds.
15.2.3 The gate arm must begin its descent once the gate arm clearance time has elapsed, calculated in accordance with article 10.4.
15.2.4 For a grade crossing where railway equipment enters the grade crossing at more than 25 km/h (15 mph), the gate arm must rest in the horizontal position not less than 5 seconds before the arrival at the crossing surface of railway equipment.
15.2.4.1 For a grade crossing where the railway equipment enters the grade crossing at 25 km/h (15 mph) or less, the gate arm must rest in the horizontal position when the railway equipment arrives at the crossing surface.
15.2.5 The gate arms must operate uniformly, smoothly, and complete all movements without rebound, and must be securely held when in the raised position.
15.2.6 If the gate arm strikes or fouls any object during its ascent or descent, it must readily stop and, on removal of an obstruction, assume the position corresponding with the control apparatus.
 
 
 
16.1 Warning Time
16.1.1 The time during which the warning system must operate, before the arrival of railway equipment at the crossing surface, must be the greatest of:
(a) 20 seconds, unless the grade crossing clearance distance (Figure 10-1) is more than 11 m (35 ft), in which case, the 20 seconds must be increased by one second for each additional 3 m (10 ft), or fraction thereof;
(b) the Departure Time for the design vehicle (article 10.3.2);
© the Departure Time for pedestrians, cyclists, and persons using assistive devices (article 10.3.3);
(d) the gate arm clearance time, plus the time to complete the gate arm descent, plus 5 seconds;
(e) the minimum warning time required for traffic signal interconnection as referred to in article 19.3(a);
(f) the time for the design vehicle to travel from the stopping sight distance, and pass completely through the clearance distance.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(10-19-2018, 01:49 PM)Canard Wrote: Meanwhile on the Waterloo Spur, I was standing not long ago at Quiet Place. The arms went down, and then I watched them go down at Bearanger.... THEN I saw a train slowly approaching from the North at 20 km/h. The arms stayed down until the train went past, so they were down for many minutes.

I saw two police cars at the Bearinger crossing yesterday directing traffic when the train was near the crossing, so it seems that there is definitely some work going on there.
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I watched a bunch of videos of C-Train crossings and it seems like the bell typically rings for 40-50 seconds, depending on whether it's a pedestrian crossing or intersection. I think that would be a reasonable standard for ION.
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(10-19-2018, 01:50 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I’m not sure if the heavy rail standards apply to LRT at all or to LRT on heavy rail track, but the standards are here:
https://www.tc.gcca/media/documents/rail...df#page=46

It seems a bit complicated.

<snip>

Thanks for hunting all of that info down for us!

(10-19-2018, 01:50 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I think that recent video of 511 at Hayward showed the arms and lights activated a good 1min 15sec beforehand, but hopefully that gets tightened up; imagine a 1min plus of forewarning every 4min.

I would say that anything observed with 511 (or even within it's vicinity, i.e. as another LRV goes past in the opposite direction) doesn't count right now as they are only just in the early stages of testing the integration of its 'specialized equipment' with the rest of the system.  From what I've heard on the radio there are signal crews and flaggers working the crossings wherever 511's been out.

What you see with 505 to 509 in the absence of 511 would be more representative of the way the crossings are tuned right now.
...K
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From our hotel parking lot when we visited Calgary:

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(10-18-2018, 10:01 PM)Canard Wrote: Hi everyone, can confirm that the vehicle which was delivered a few days ago was 512.  Hope this helps!

Any more vehicles coming from Kingston?  Thank you.
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(10-20-2018, 02:24 PM)Square Wrote:
(10-18-2018, 10:01 PM)Canard Wrote: Hi everyone, can confirm that the vehicle which was delivered a few days ago was 512.  Hope this helps!

Any more vehicles coming from Kingston?  Thank you.

There is one on the way.
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(10-20-2018, 02:24 PM)Square Wrote: Any more vehicles coming from Kingston?  Thank you.

Not at the moment, no.
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(10-20-2018, 04:05 PM)Canard Wrote:
(10-20-2018, 02:24 PM)Square Wrote: Any more vehicles coming from Kingston?  Thank you.

Not at the moment, no.

Is 501 the only one remaining in Kingston? Presumably that would need to arrive reasonably soon, too, if the December revenue service is to become reality.
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(10-20-2018, 07:07 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(10-20-2018, 04:05 PM)Canard Wrote: Not at the moment, no.

Is 501 the only one remaining in Kingston? Presumably that would need to arrive reasonably soon, too, if the December revenue service is to become reality.

510, 514, and 513 are also still there.
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I thought 513 was on the way? Something changed?
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No, it was 512 that was sitting there rotting waiting to be picked up. Somehow they got it here over a weekend (instead of the usual ~1 week) - my mistake.
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Er - never mind... somebody just saw the next one pass through Pickering. Looks like they have a new run, with vehicles leaving Friday afternoons and showing up here on the following Mondays.
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