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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(12-15-2015, 12:29 AM)isUsername Wrote:
(12-12-2015, 06:51 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I saw this today, too.  It's still hard for me to visualize what the finished project will look like.

Conceptual Renderings

However, they demolished the entrance under the stairs as well, going all the way up to the front facade, so it may look a fair bit different.

I'm not sure why it would look any different, apart from being completely built from scratch rather than using an existing portion of stairs. It's certainly the shape the concrete forms are taking.
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Was surprised to see today that almost all the sidewalks are completely in on Charles from Water to Ontario! They're really in quite the rush to get these businesses back up to speed, considering spots like King St that have been paved for months don't have sidewalks yet.

There were a heap of dates pushed back today. The crossings on Caroline were pushed back, as were all the intersection closures downtown. Bit of a shame. Surprising that Charles / Francis keeps getting pushed back. More than 3 weeks overdue now.

All curbs are officially in for the Southbound lanes on Charles from Benton to Borden! Woo! Curbs are still missing on the Northbound lanes from Pandora to Cameron, but those should be done this week. Glad to see this major stretch almost done.

Charles is also paved in both directions from Benton to Cedar. Completely driveable now. Crossing Eby has been closed — the plans show this as no longer being a through street, but the shape of the curbs say it is? Eby being closed may just be to install tracks soonish — the Ion ROW has been completely leveled and tampered to Benton.

The remainder of Borden was mostly paved today, and should be finished tomorrow. I would assume that as soon as the Borden / Charles intersection reopens, Ottawa / Charles will close.
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Not sure if this was posted, from The Record.

http://m.therecord.com/opinion-story/618...nnect-them
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Another excellent vantage point is the top of the Madison ramp above Charles. This was the view this morning:

[Image: 4cqKtbu.png]     [Image: zcnTU45.png]
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(12-15-2015, 08:57 PM)GtwoK Wrote: ...spots like King St that have been paved for months don't have sidewalks yet.

I noticed that between Union and William, they've laid some (temporary) asphalt sidewalks, and I gotta say, they look wonderfully wide. Considering they've forgotten to design on-road cycling infrastructure, I almost want them to declare them multi-use.

Quote:Charles is also paved in both directions from Benton to Cedar. Completely driveable now. Crossing Eby has been closed — the plans show this as no longer being a through street, but the shape of the curbs say it is?

I was thinking that this might be an emergency services access thing.
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(12-15-2015, 09:12 PM)white_brian Wrote: Not sure if this was posted, from The Record.

http://m.therecord.com/opinion-story/618...nnect-them

There was an ironic moment of truth in the comments. One of the commenters claimed that in a year we’ll see empty trains travelling up and down the line, the implication being that nobody will ride the system once it is done. But as it happens in a year we will indeed be seeing empty trains travelling the line as they begin testing. Of course, in two years, they will not be empty any more, except at far off-peak times.
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The day the first train arrives is the most exciting part of this project to me. Counting down the hours practically. I'm going to stalk that thing during testing like you wouldn't believe!! Big Grin
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(12-16-2015, 11:04 AM)Canard Wrote: The day the first train arrives is the most exciting part of this project to me. Counting down the hours practically.  I'm going to stalk that thing during testing like you wouldn't believe!! Big Grin

When is that approx. date again?
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(12-16-2015, 02:58 PM)insider Wrote: When is that approx. date again?

Originally targeted for first delivery late 2016/early 2017, I believe, but that's pending Bombardier's ability to keep things on schedule. Anyone from Toronto might look at you funny if you suggested they could deliver on time.
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September 2016.
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That's barely 250 days away!
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Can anyone shed some light on why the trains might need such a long (Sept 2016 -> "late 2017 first passengers" is more than a year!) track test time? What are they doing with that much time?
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These trains have never run in Canada before. The region has never run trains before. Drivers have never had to deal with this kind of fixed transit before. We want to see them under a harsh winter (this year would be terrible for that purpose). GrandLinq has not hired or trained their drivers for these vehicles and our routes yet. We don't want to put people on this service without knowing that we won't see bottlenecks from unforeseen traffic circumstances. More, I'm sure.
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I assumed testing could begin before construction was finished. I'm sure they don't need the whole line done to do a lot of the early testing.
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You would only do testing on sections connected to the OMSF, which is not finished. No section of track has any catpoles, nor the power substations to make them work. And we definitely can't test without the trains, which will indeed not arrive by their September 2016 date unless by miracle.
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