ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

1/4 - Sunday, May 7, 2017

   
Frederick station takes shape. A large fence is being erected along the back wall. Also, you can see just how low the catenary has to sag here, to get under the pedestrian overpass - the clearance is very tight!

   
Here's a new bus bay platform being built at Young, on Duke St, near the Kitchener City Hall station.

   
Catenary has ben strung through the King St. Grade Separation, and the curbs are in! Paving soon, I hope?

   
Messenger wire strung along Charles, between Benton and Moore. Under Manulife is another one of these ultra-low sections. The pantograph will be almost fully collapsed onto the train through here! I wonder if special approval had to be given, with the contact wire so low?

   
Another shot of the messenger wire through here. Note how the support arms are a little different.

[Canard]

The comment was stated in Thunder Bay, yes, but it was describing how they had to rework parts from Mexico.

Are our large welded metal parts also coming from Mexico?

No - well, not for trains 2-14 (502-514).  Production was shifted to La Pocatiere, Quebec - the same Bombardier plant which built the frames for the TR MOVIA's.

[Canard]

2/4 - Sunday, May 7, 2017

   
Lots of rework to the concrete between Kitchener Market and Cameron.

   
The entire section has been dug up between the rapidway. Gotta love that sign. I wonder if they got the kids at the school to make it for them?

   
Little reported, a giant mural is going to adorn this entire wall on Charles! It's part of the Canada 150 celebrations.

   
Another shot of all that concrete work.

   
At Courtland/Shelly, there's a curious placement of a railway crossing arm.

I guess it's not so curious when you zoom out and look at the whole situation, but it's certainly a headscratcher. There's a pedestrian crossing here, and that's all the arms are for. The rapidway has both tracks on the far side, parallel to Courtland. So, traffic is completely unimpeded here by the LRT.

However, there's a new pedestrian crossing to a trail/sidwalk on the far side. There is no refuge between the rapidway and Courtland. So... I guess railway rules said they have to have a crossing arm on the near side, to prevent anyone from attempting to cross, and then get stuck between traffic and the train.

[Canard]

3/4 - Sunday, May 7, 2017

   
Fairway is coming together.

   
I can't wait to see LRV's snaking along this high-speed section of the line!

   
The crossover at Fairway.

   
Fairway has also received one of these tall back walls.

   

[Canard]

4/4 - Sunday, May 7, 2017

   
Some closing shots of the station at Fairway.

   

   

[clasher]

2 questions, on King at the underpass going toward Waterloo when the tracks go from the sides of the road to the middle are there gonna be gates or lights? Secondly at Shelley, is there a sidewalk on the track side of Courtland? I don't remember what was there before the lrt. I'm just wondering where people go on foot over there.

[kps]

4/4 - Sunday, May 7, 2017
Some closing shots of the station at Fairway.

That Fairway sign… it's… it's… not crooked!

[KevinL]

2 questions, on King at the underpass going toward Waterloo when the tracks go from the sides of the road to the middle are there gonna be gates or lights?

The cross-to-the-middle will actually be in the middle of the Moore intersection. So yes, there will be lights, but they're the usual traffic lights.

[Canard]

Correct, because it's LRT at that point running as LOS. When it switches to ATC (spurs and Courtland), suddenly we have crossing arms and lights everywhere and it's considered "railway".

As for Courtland, there is a new sidewalk running from Shelly to Block Line on the tracks-side. It's weird and I don't know what it's connecting, but I'm happy to have even more spots to take photos and video from!

[clasher]

LOS is line of sight in this context? The rules seem weird to me, I thought ATC was safer than just letting the drivers run the trains? I'm sure there is something I'm misunderstanding... but rules are rules I guess.

I also forgot Moore street existed there, it's been closed for so long!

[Canard]

LOS is Line of Sight, correct (essentially "unsignalled" operation). ATC (safety/in-cab signaling) isn't ATO ("driverless") in this context, as far as I'm aware... though I've actually heard discussions both ways, but in my experience ATC is just cab signaling; the driver still controls the speed. Even if it was ATO, with the driver simply closing the doors which would initiate movement automatically to the next station, one might argue that that's exactly why there must be barriers.

[MacBerry]

LOS is line of sight in this context? The rules seem weird to me, I thought ATC was safer than just letting the drivers run the trains? I'm sure there is something I'm misunderstanding... but rules are rules I guess.

Wow now we are getting ATC or Air Traffic Control for our LRT ....   

[danbrotherston]

@clasher. ATC might be safer in some ways but I don't think it is an option (regulation wise) for running in the middle of the road because it requires more segregation (you know all those fences we hate)

[Coke6pk]

So looking at the anchor walls, the Station Name is easily visible from most of the roadways/sidewalks nearby (in most cases), but not at ones where they are immediately against the roadway [ie. Allen ... you can't see the station name until you are beside it]. The picture from the tracks approaching Fairway made me think of this fact... Are the anchor walls made to identify the station for the surrounding areas, or for those on the LRT? And if its the latter, will they depend on interior signage on the train, or are there additional track level wayfinding signs on the lamp posts?

Coke

[Coke6pk]

Someone on Reddit was complaining about that work (they live nearby and the jackhammering really set them off).

Sorry, playing catch up here... but I almost spit out my coffee on this one conversation with the OP:

   

Coke