ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

   
Conestoga Mall Platform.

   
Looking down at the OMSF from Northfield.

   
Status of the Northfield bridge across the highway.

   
Northfield Station platform, and a new kind of fence pole (square) going up - I suspect a higher "finish" was asked for, here.

   
Detail of the "internal" counterweight catenary pole, up at the OMSF.

[Canard]

   
Lots of concrete ties await placement inside the OMSF yard.

   
While I was there, crews were stringing out the long lengths of ribbon rail, waiting to place them into final position.

   
Curves below a certain radius aren't just accommodated for on-site by bending ribbon rail, but rather, are pre-curved precisely with a roller bender, and welded together on-site.  Here's a stack of those curved pieces.

   
Pulling the rails.

   

[Canard]

   
Keeping things from getting too dusty.

   
OMSF Overview.

   
Detail of the switchwork which will branch trains off of the main line into the OMSF.

   
Tracks curving off into the main OMSF hall.

   
One final shot of the OMSF yard track.

[Canard]

...and finally, some video of rail pulling along the line at the OMSF:

[tomh009]

Back from a week of work travel, and I am happy to see that the rails (and most of the rebar) are now in place all along Charles, from Ontario to Borden.

Near Queen, toward Benton:
   

Near Benton, toward Eby:
   

Near Cedar, toward Madison:
   

Near Kent, toward Stirling:
   

[KevinL]

Indeed, there are maybe four welds necessary between Queen and Ontario to have a single stretch of rail from Borden to Francis.

[Canard]

Fun safety ad campaign by Metro, the Los Angeles Light Rail system.



You can see all 6 videos here.

I will keep saying it over and over, ion had better start rolling out some ads like this pretty soon, with first train movements happening here in <6 months.

[KevinL]

Catpoles on Charles!

[jamincan]

Fun safety ad campaign by Metro, the Los Angeles Light Rail system.



You can see all 6 videos here.

I will keep saying it over and over, ion had better start rolling out some ads like this pretty soon, with first train movements happening here in <6 months.

Maybe billboard ads would be more effective at reaching people?

[Canard]

I think it has to be a combination of media types; radio, tv, social media, YouTube, pamphlets... To be honest, I can't recall the last time (or where) I even saw a billboard on a highway, and that would only reach a third of the intended audience.

[Canard]

1/3 - Saturday, June 25

   
Here's a shot of the platform for the future Allen station.

   
Duct bank work along King.

   
Looking North from near Allen.  The rapidway is on the right, here, as the track splits at Allen.

   
Trains will be traveling toward drivers here, instead of in the same direction.  The choice of a low curb here is very interesting.

   
Trackside lubricators will be installed here, as on all curves with a radius less than 150 m, to reduce wheel/rail wear and mitigate noise.

[Canard]

2/3 - Saturday, June 25

   
Another view of the "Allen Curve".

   
Looking South along King, from Union.

   
Looking South along King, from Union.

   
The staircase work at the school is happening just behind the yellow digger in this shot.

   

[Canard]

3/3 - Saturday, June 25

   
I'll have to try and find a way to (legally) get a little closer here, but here's an overview of what's happening at the Grade Separation.  This is looking up King, from Francis.

   
The next few shots show the "Duke Curve".

   

   
Again, like Allen, the trains will be traveling the "wrong way" here, against the flow of traffic.

   
My husband and I used to live at the Kaufman Lofts; here's a photo I took from about the same area, on June 17, 2007 while we were waiting for it to be built.

[clasher]

I hope they put a full curb or some other delineation on Allen, in the winter with snow that'll look just like parking spots.

[jwilliamson]

Canard, two of your photos are labeled "Looking south from Allen." It looks to me like they were taken at Union.