ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[KevinL]

Swung by Charles again, they now have so many segments completed that they're double-stacking them:



And yet, there's lots more stock to still get done:

[Canard]

A good article from down under; G:Link is running a campaign right now to bring up public awareness about a lot of pedestrian "close calls" they've been having.

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensla...7491673759

“People have to be responsible themselves,” Superintendent Hanlon said.

“We can’t cage everything. We can’t cage off every road.

“When you’re an adult, you have to be responsible and take the right procedures yourself for your own safety. That’s not just one the road — that’s across the board. Be responsible for your own actions.”

Amen!

[chutten]

Looks like the University-Columbia section of the Laurel Trail might be out for a while as UW rethinks pedestrian access: https://uwaterloo.ca/daily-bulletin/2015...t-underway

The eastern side of the Ring Road is going to look a little different by the time October rolls around.

Beginning this week is a construction project that involves the elimination of a portion of the sidewalk on the Ring Road's east side, the construction of five new pedestrian crossings, the relocation of a bus stop and the construction of a fence.

[Markster]

Looks like the University-Columbia section of the Laurel Trail might be out for a while as UW rethinks pedestrian access: https://uwaterloo.ca/daily-bulletin/2015...t-underway

The eastern side of the Ring Road is going to look a little different by the time October rolls around.

Beginning this week is a construction project that involves the elimination of a portion of the sidewalk on the Ring Road's east side, the construction of five new pedestrian crossings, the relocation of a bus stop and the construction of a fence.

So they're putting up the fence after all.

I imagine the "relocation of a bus stop" will be the complete removal the northbound 200/13 stop, now that they've gotten GRT to use the other side of Ring Road.

Also, this doesn't appear to be LRT related. Though, that sidewalk has become very important, with the trail out of commission.

[tomh009]

100 pages of ION discussion -- what a great resource.  I expect we'll be well past 200 by the time the first passengers board the trains.

[Markster]

GrandLink has posted a video about the Benton-Courtland work:

[GtwoK]

GrandLink has posted a video about the Benton-Courtland work:

Very cool. Hopefully they continue to do these sorts of videos. Might walk along the Ion track today to see how things are shaping up, will get some photos if I do!

[MacBerry]

A good article from down under; G:Link is running a campaign right now to bring up public awareness about a lot of pedestrian "close calls" they've been having.

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensla...7491673759

“People have to be responsible themselves,” Superintendent Hanlon said.

“We can’t cage everything. We can’t cage off every road.

“When you’re an adult, you have to be responsible and take the right procedures yourself for your own safety. That’s not just one the road — that’s across the board. Be responsible for your own actions.”

Amen!

The University and the Region are going to install pedestrian gates on these crossings because their  insurance companies want to take all the fun out of dancing with the LRTs when drunk ...

[Spokes]

100 pages of ION discussion -- what a great resource.  I expect we'll be well past 200 by the time the first passengers board the trains.

I hope we'll be well past that.  Don't forget, that's 100 in on year.  We're more than a year from passengers.

[zanate]

The University and the Region are going to install pedestrian gates on these crossings because their  insurance companies want to take all the fun out of dancing with the LRTs when drunk ...

Gates in the park are not a bad idea, given that they're talking about the LRVs being able to hit 70km/h for this stretch. Up by the Seagram station, those speeds are less likely. But ISTR they're adding a more southerly crossing as well. That will be fairly high speed.

[Canard]

Yes, it is speed driven. There won't be crossings where the speed is expected to be below a certain point, say 40 km/h. But the Waterloo Spur is where speeds will be much higher.

[zanate]

Yes, it is speed driven. There won't be crossings where the speed is expected to be below a certain point, say 40 km/h. But the Waterloo Spur is where speeds will be much higher.

And I see from the UW thread that the same thing is planned for crossing points along UW campus as well.

We still don't know exactly what mid-route timings are going to look like but I have to imagine the trip from Conestoga to Uptown is going to be considerably quicker than today's 200 iXpress, and probably a fair bit quicker than the 7C (at least during rush hour.) The improved directness, higher average speed and reduced boarding times are going to combine for big time savings.

[MidTowner]

Yes, it is speed driven. There won't be crossings where the speed is expected to be below a certain point, say 40 km/h. But the Waterloo Spur is where speeds will be much higher.

And I see from the UW thread that the same thing is planned for crossing points along UW campus as well.

We still don't know exactly what mid-route timings are going to look like but I have to imagine the trip from Conestoga to Uptown is going to be considerably quicker than today's 200 iXpress, and probably a fair bit quicker than the 7C (at least during rush hour.) The improved directness, higher average speed and reduced boarding times are going to combine for big time savings.

Do we know at all what mid-route timings have been like? I haven't seen any idea of what they might be.

You have to be right that the trip between Uptown and Conestoga will be a lot quicker than the iXpress, if only for the more direct routing. I'd be really curious as to whether there's any clue as to run times between the stations near the centre of the line.

[Canard]

It's buried in the documentation package online somewhere; timings down to the minute, speeds, etc... Search for Rapid Transit Waterloo and it'll take you to the region's site and it's somewhere in there.

[zanate]

It's buried in the documentation package online somewhere; timings down to the minute, speeds, etc... Search for Rapid Transit Waterloo and it'll take you to the region's site and it's somewhere in there.

If you're thinking there's a timetable that contains timepoints for the different stops, I don't believe that exists (unless someone can produce it.)

What does exist in the project agreement is a prototype service plan that lists sample timetables with start and end times, to calculate number of vehicles required and a few other things. These tables do not list intermediate timepoints

http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/...7RFPV3.pdf