ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Coke6pk]

Hydro towers are being dismantled today along the Fairway corridor

Came here to say this! (But my BlackBerry on zoom looks like crap when compared to Lens's photo's  )



Not sure when the wires came down, but saw that as I drove down Courtland.

[Markster]

Your photo of the tower coming down is much better than Lens'!

One should never feel a need to apologize for the quality of one's photos! A photo that isn't posted because it "sucks" is a photo update we never get!

[Spokes]

Really like the feature walls, in particular the use of different colours at each one!

[ookpik]

Bombardier plans IPO for minority stake in rail unit  

Bombardier Inc. is preparing for an initial public offering of a minority stake in its rail unit but says it has no intention of selling the entire division. The move will help boost the plane and train maker’s financial position while also allowing for the possibility of taking part in future rail industry consolidation, the company said Thursday...

Recent news reports said two Chinese state-owned train makers were exploring buying control of the rail unit and had been in discussions with Bombardier...

Bombardier is the only company in the world that makes both planes and trains, a dual mandate in which the relative stability of the rail business helps offset the more volatile aerospace sector.

[Canard]

This past week I was in Texas, and rode several systems, including Houston and Dallas' LRT systems, and even made a special trip out to IAH to ride their Linear-motor powered peoplemover which connects the terminals (it's been on my list of must-ride systems for a decade!). The Las Colinas APT was down for refurbishment so I didn't get a chance to ride it.



Dallas' Kinki-Sharyo vehicles are interesting in that when the system opened, each train consisted of two high-floor halves (much like Toronto's ALRV's). In a move I suspect was to comply with ADA/wheelchair requirements, a centre section has been added to each train with a sunken floor that provides a low-floor area where a wheelchair can go.

Houston runs Siemens S70 trains with a fixed-bogie centre section. As Houston has had something like 90 accidents in the first year (and you thought I was kidding when I said when not if an accident occurs here), many of the crossings have full railway barriers and extra stoplights, red illuminated rings around the stoplights, etc... to try and mitigate collisions.

[D40LF]

At the McDonalds crossing.

[Canard]

Personally, I love park-and-ride systems, and I would have thought others would, too, since it's incentive for those living outside the downtown cores to leave their cars outside and take transit in. Ion is a hard sell for car drivers who live out of town (especially those coming into the region along 401) and work downtown to bother fighting traffic on Fairway to park at the mall and take the train, when they can be in downtown in less time. Had there been a Park-and-Ride lot at Sportsworld (which I hope some day there will be), it becomes far more palatable. It has to have an anchor point, with some way to get from your house to that anchor. If you live along the line, you're all set. But for the majority of people who don't, they need somewhere to park.

[plam]

Personally, I love park-and-ride systems, and I would have thought others would, too, since it's incentive for those living outside the downtown cores to leave their cars outside and take transit in. Ion is a hard sell for car drivers who live out of town (especially those coming into the region along 401) and work downtown to bother fighting traffic on Fairway to park at the mall and take the train, when they can be in downtown in less time. Had there been a Park-and-Ride lot at Sportsworld (which I hope some day there will be), it becomes far more palatable.  It has to have an anchor point, with some way to get from your house to that anchor. If you live along the line, you're all set. But for the majority of people who don't, they need somewhere to park.

Park-and-ride isn't very good for developing a vibrant urban fabric and I think it tends to promote sprawl. Plus it's hard to use if you don't already have a car. I also think that our LRT route was designed so that a growing majority of people would live along the line.

But hey, it's a good land bank for future development, sort of like the Square One parking lots.

[Viewfromthe42]

The way Ottawa has developed around its park and ride stations over the last 30+ years, even with BRT that moves between dedicated highway lanes and a dedicated-to-transit highway, shows an oasis of asphalt and a 2-storey plateau for buildings for miles around.

They are not useless, but if you don't build the rest of the transit system to focus on the experience getting to the station by transit vs car, it is no surprise to see the results.

[Canard]

Stopped by the OMSF last night - the office is about twice the size it was before! Behind McCormick I could see the realigned track, equipment just off in the distance facing south. Hadn't made it to University or Waterloo Park yet.

[ookpik]

This doesn't bode well for our LRT cars to arrive on schedule and to work properly: TTC’s new streetcars plagued with manufacturing problems 

The first vehicles in Toronto’s new $1.2-billion streetcar fleet were so poorly manufactured, the TTC wouldn’t accept them for fear they would break down on bumpy city streets, transit CEO Andy Byford has revealed.

The European design for the streetcar parts simply wasn’t translating to the Mexican manufacturing facility that is supplying parts to the Thunder Bay assembly plant...

There should have been about 50 of the new streetcars running on Toronto streets by now, according to the original schedule. But there are only five, with two more expected to come online shortly...

Bombardier is retooling its Mexican operation and the production line in Thunder Bay is getting new quality-assurance processes that catch problems before they get to Toronto. But Byford said he’s made it plain the TTC is not a happy customer...

Byford said he was sharing the extent of the quality assurance issues so that TTC riders would understand why they’ve been waiting so long for new vehicles that were ordered in 2010.

[Canard]

It's not all doom-and-gloom.

The cars now in service “have proved superbly reliable,” he said. One of the two-stage wheelchair ramps has failed once and a Presto device was out of service for about two hours, but otherwise the vehicles have been problem-free.
The TTC has set a target of 35,000 kilometres between failures for the new cars, compared with about 7,000 kilometres on average between failures on the old fleet.

[ookpik]

It's not all doom-and-gloom.

Agreed.

My concern is the effect of delivery delays, be they due to labour or manufacturing quality issues, on the scheduled start date of our LRT.

Also based on the descriptions of some of the problems the TTC found with these cars, their early positive reliability experience could deteriorate over time.

“Thunder Bay was finding when they went to attach the under-frame to the sidewalls they weren’t square. You either accept that or try riveting it to create that square alignment. We rejected that. We don’t want it riveted. We want it built properly, because rivets pop.” Will GrandLinq be as demanding?

I want the LRT to be successful as much as anyone. I also want to ensure that we get what we're paying for on time and at the quality we contracted.

[JoeKW]

Just assume that the system will be complete long before the trains are delivered. I really don't see them showing up on time.

[timio]

This doesn't bode well for our LRT cars to arrive on schedule and to work properly: TTC’s new streetcars plagued with manufacturing problems

Different product.  I don't see why delays with the Flexity Outlook (TTC Streetcar) would have any impact on the Flexity Freedom (ION and Metrolinx LRT).