(02-24-2020, 11:19 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: I had heard about these delays in passing from ION riders, and I finally took the time to check it out on TransSee. On one particularly bad night (Jan 16), 504 was held at Waterloo Public Square for 25 minutes, which meant 510 had to be held at Allen and also ended up 15 minutes late. These delays are slowly made up all the way to Conestoga and back to Fairway because they're so long, but on this night even that wasn't enough, and it really messed up the schedule. Sometimes Fairway-bound LRVs are held at Waterloo Park while the freight train is on the line, but they're released before the Conestoga-bound LRV so it doesn't seem like the freight train has to completely clear Northfield before ION traffic resumes.
Interesting. I strongly suspect they are being overcautious with the separation; the southbound LRV should move on from Waterloo Park to the signal just south of the bridge over the creek as soon as the freight crosses King. Then once the freight has cleared the interlocking, it should switch forthwith to allow the southbound LRV to continue; then as soon as that has cleared it should switch to allow the northbound LRV to proceed.
I await with baited breath the detailed explanations from railway signal engineers why this would actually be dangerous. My argument is basically that if regular traffic driven by the usual level of skilled driver we see on the roads every day can be trusted with level crossings, then trained LRV operators can be trusted to stop at a red signal and only proceed when it turns green after the freight has left. They don’t need to hold 600m up the track.