ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

As long as the ducks have some place to get from one side to the other, I'm happy.

[Canard]

Photos from tonight at Waterloo Park:

   
Site overview.

   

   

   

   

[Canard]

...cont'd...

   

   

   
...an appreciative family.

[Smore]

It will be two ramps, and a gap over which the LRT will have to jump, which explains why the vehicles are expected to get to so high a speed inside Waterloo Park that they need fences and likely giant nets.

I tried this once in Roller Coaster Tycoon...its tough to nail the landing!

[Canard]

Guys are installing culvert segment 3!

   

[Waterlooer]

Guys are installing culvert segment 3!

This may be a stupid question but is the culvert for the new bridge or something else?

[Canard]

There isn't going to be a bridge - they're basically making a tunnel for the river. Those rectangular concrete sections are what the water will pass through, and the trains will run over top.

[Markster]

There's 12 of those things on site, so it looks like it will be three sections long, and four sections wide.

[Canard]

Yeah, that's what I was trying to figure out! I figured it would be 2x8, but while I was there, they loaded in that third section adjacent to the previously placed 2.

The river will now have quite a jog to it, like the letter Z. They'll really have to reconfigure the entrance (far side of the culvert, if you're standing on the pedestrian bridge).

I've been wondering something a lot with this whole project... how much does GrandLinq (or whoever made the decision to go with this culvert style pass) tell the Region, or whoever's paying the bills? Like, if I need a part for my car replaced, I generally ask a few questions at the dealership (since I'm technically minded). But like, would GrandLinq have said "We're going to have a 3x4 concrete rectangular culvert here", or do they just say "We'll handle building a bridge of some kind" and leave it really vague?

I don't ever recall seeing any detail drawings in any of the released packages of this, that's all, so I wonder if it's a surprise to the Region as well.

[timio]

"Project co to construct new bridge structure min 12.1m span" is on the detailed drawings. (http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/..._Part2.pdf) pg 17

[Canard]

A little too vague for my liking!  That's what I was getting at.  It doesn't show any detail at all, really.

We just had to replace our furnace.  Our HVAC guy said "I'd recommend this one."  I said "OK" and they put it in.  I don't know anything about it, but I know it works.  Is that how this is?

I also very much wonder about the timing of the demolition of the existing bridge and the construction of the new one. Looking at the drawings, the new tracks are on both sides of the existing track, not beside it. So it kind of implies they will not be building the new tracks, then demolishing the bridge; it seems like the bridge will need to come down within the next couple of days.

[Bureaucromancer]

A little too vague for my liking!  That's what I was getting at.  It doesn't show any detail at all, really.

We just had to replace our furnace.  Our HVAC guy said "I'd recommend this one."  I said "OK" and they put it in.  I don't know anything about it, but I know it works.  Is that how this is?

A bit simplistic, but yes, that is more like how it is than not assuming a normal contract of this sort (I haven't really looked at GrandLinq documents specifically.  It can definitely be argued both ways, and Vancouver's got plenty of stories of how it can go wrong, but a good deal of why contractors are brought in in this way is so that the municipalities don't have to go over every detail or be especially expert in designing something that will be once or twice in a career for their own staff.

[timio]

There's two 24/4 work periods, one this weekend and one next weekend. I'm going to guess one of those will be to remove the current bridge, replace it with culvert, and replace the track by the time the Monday train rolls through.

Also, University's closing all but one eastbound lane as of July 24 for 3 weeks, with full closures on the weekend, according to rideion.ca.

[Canard]

Incredible, and likely - renting those huge Mammoet cranes (and the crew who operate them) is expensive.  1/3 of the crew walking around on site yesterday were wearing Mammoet vests or hats.  Although I didn't see any track ties in the area... for the high-speed crossing replacements, they've been pre-assembling track sections and then dragging them rapidly into place as soon as ready.  There's no evidence of that here... maybe next weekend then? I've asked the RT team for clarification.

[Canard]

Talked to some GrandLinq folks this morning on site. Here's the scoop:

-12 boxes currently installed for SB track
-18 more next weekend for NB track
-Bridge comes out next Friday
-CN is giving them a 130+ hr window that they HAVE to hit, so next weekend is a big weekend
-tracks reinstalled by Wednesday
-In about a month, track installation will continue from the OMSF, heading south
-A good chunk of final spur line track will be done this year