ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[KevinL]

Railway Age, a general North American rail news site, has an update on Ion: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/pass...gress.html

[Canard]

Thanks, Kevin!

Only one major mistake:  The article states that all yard-track at the OMSF is in place, when in reality, no yard track in place at all - which is troublesome to me, although I understand that's to begin in "late spring".

...I just really, really, really can't wait any longer for the trains to start showing up.

This is agony.

[KevinL]

From this morning.

A reopened Ontario street looks great...


...but something's not right here.


That metal grate is far too close to the inside of the rail - no way will a wheel flange fit safely past. I sincerely hope they're planning to trim that down somehow.

[Canard]

I'd imagine so. They likely fab the covers longer than require then cut to suit at installation.

These are track lubricators which appear before any curves using restraining rail to help reduce noise and flange wear. There is a fairly large control cabinet and lubricant storage box which appears next to each of these.

[ijmorlan]

I'd imagine so.  They likely fab the covers longer than require then cut to suit at installation.

That seems surprising to me. Wouldn’t they all be the same, and therefore wouldn’t it be easier to manufacture them to the same correct size to start with?

In this particular picture, it almost looks as if there is too much space on the other side (bottom of the picture), making me wonder if it actually is poured wrong, with the whole box shifted towards the bottom relative to the rail.

Having said that, I really don’t know anything about the process.

[Canard]

Right - but when contractor A lays the track and contractor B does the formwork and contractor C does the concrete pour, allowances have to be made when somebody screws up. I agree though, if I were doing it, I'd probably come up with a fixture or form that clips over the rail to guarantee the correct "cutout" in the concrete gets silohetted. But I'm looking at this as an automation designer not a construction/civil engineer.

It could just be a cover that stays on until winter is done and then gets removed once the "guts" are installed. Seems pretty nice for a temporary cover though.

[Canard]

I was just up at the OMSF and I guess they heard me - half the mobile offices are gone from the front part off The Dutton loop, and the yard has been cleared. They moved a bunch of lengths of rail into the middle. Phew!

Also, the Seagram/Laurier park stop is now revealed:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Seagram/Laurier platform revealed at <a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooPrk">@WaterlooPrk</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TramWorld">@TramWorld</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kwawesome?src=hash">#kwawesome</a> <a href="https://t.co/MwM6R3Lak8">pic.twitter.com/MwM6R3Lak8</a></p>&mdash; Iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/712766847804907520">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>

[GtwoK]

Please note that the intersection closure at Allen/Caroline will be extended until approximately June 15. In an effort to re-sequence crews in the area as a result of the archeologist investigation on King, GrandLinq will continue work in the Allen/Caroline intersection. - See more at: http://www.rideion.ca/traffic-updates.ht...qs0g5.dpuf

Was originally scheduled to reopen today. Seems like this corduroy road has delayed construction by 2 months :/

[insider]

I was just up at the OMSF and I guess they heard me - half the mobile offices are gone from the front part off The Dutton loop, and the yard has been cleared. They moved a bunch of lengths of rail into the middle. Phew!

Also, the Seagram/Laurier park stop is now revealed:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Seagram/Laurier platform revealed at <a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooPrk">@WaterlooPrk</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TramWorld">@TramWorld</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kwawesome?src=hash">#kwawesome</a> <a href="https://t.co/MwM6R3Lak8">pic.twitter.com/MwM6R3Lak8</a></p>&mdash; Iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/712766847804907520">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>

That seems like a very high platform... and also a huge gap from platform to tracks. Thoughts?

[Canard]

The gap looks okay (our trains are chubby!), but I had the very same thought about the platform relative to rail height. The Northbound platform (on the other side) to the rail base is even higher, but there's no track or ballast there so it looks really high.

If I get adventurous on the weekend, I'll bring my tape measure and compare to R+T Park or the stop on Caroline. Worst case they have to re-tamp a bit of ballast under it, if it's a bit off.

[insider]

The gap looks okay (our trains are chubby!), but I had the very same thought about the platform relative to rail height.  The Northbound platform (on the other side) to the rail base is even higher, but there's no track or ballast there so it looks really high.

If I get adventurous on the weekend, I'll bring my tape measure and compare to R+T Park or the stop on Caroline.  Worst case they have to re-tamp a bit of ballast under it, if it's a bit off.

I'm sure it has been calculated properly, I never suggested it was off... it just visually seems that way. Also, I also meant higher relative to the surrounding park... I am assuming the platform is exactly at the street level of Seagram Dr.?

[Canard]

It's a little bit higher, with a ramp that gently slopes upward toward the platform level.  The rails are flush with the roadway of course, so whatever the step-in height of the train is above rail height (~300 mm?), that's how high the platform is.

I have a bit more information I can share about the trains:

• The first two FLEXITY Freedom trains are "Pilot Trains" that Bombardier is building for Metrolinx. Those two trains are in production, and will go to Millhaven (Kingston) for high-speed testing as I've mentioned before along the MOVIA test line on the North side of the site, where the Toronto Rocket (TR) trains were tested.
  
• FLEXITY Freedom train 3 is for Waterloo Region, and comes straight from Thunder Bay to Waterloo.
  
• When that happens, it'll run on the "test track" section of our line, from just South of Northfield, down to just North of the Erb/Caroline intersection. GrandLinq is on track to have this finished in June.
  
• Train 3 (our first) has a burn-in period where it will run for quite a while, back and forth, along the spur (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
  
• Colours: Rendering is accurate, but the grey is a little lighter. Doors on the inside are the same blue as the outside, and seats are light blue with grey accents.
  
• Chime will be "TTC Chime" (3-tone) as Metrolinx wants a uniform, consistent look and feel to all trains on all projects going forward.
  
• Voice will be the same Text-to-Speech system on the FLEXITY Outlook LRV's (streetcars) that Toronto is taking delivery of right now. Voice may be slightly different but tech module is the same (Yay!).
  

[GtwoK]

I'm not as excited about the trains as you are Canard, but I'll be damned if I'm not eager to hear the station names read out by the TTS system.

[KevinL]

It's a little bit higher, with a ramp that gently slopes upward toward the platform level.  The rails are flush with the roadway of course, so whatever the step-in height of the train is above rail height (~300 mm?), that's how high the platform is.

I have a bit more information I can share about the trains:

• The first two FLEXITY Freedom trains are "Pilot Trains" that Bombardier is building for Metrolinx.  Those two trains are in production, and will go to Millhaven (Kingston) for high-speed testing as I've mentioned before along the MOVIA test line on the North side of the site, where the Toronto Rocket (TR) trains were tested.
  
• FLEXITY Freedom train 3 is for Waterloo Region, and comes straight from Thunder Bay to Waterloo.
  
• When that happens, it'll run on the "test track" section of our line, from just South of Northfield, down to just North of the Erb/Caroline intersection.  GrandLinq is on track to have this finished in June.
  
• Train 3 (our first) has a burn-in period where it will run for quite a while, back and forth, along the spur (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
  
• Colours: Rendering is accurate, but the grey is a little lighter.  Doors on the inside are the same blue as the outside, and seats are light blue with grey accents.
  
• Chime will be "TTC Chime" (3-tone) as Metrolinx wants a uniform, consistent look and feel to all trains on all projects going forward.
  
• Voice will be the same Text-to-Speech system on the FLEXITY Outlook LRV's (streetcars) that Toronto is taking delivery of right now.  Voice may be slightly different but tech module is the same (Yay!).
  

What amazing news to take into a long weekend! Cheers.

[MidTowner]

[*]Chime will be "TTC Chime" (3-tone) as Metrolinx wants a uniform, consistent look and feel to all trains on all projects going forward.
[/list]

Why do we care what Metrolinx wants? This isn't their project, and we're out of their jurisdiction. But I find this curious that they would want a consistent look and feel- to what? All trains anywhere in Ontario?

Not that I dislike the TTC's chime, but it would have been nice to have come up with something unique to our system.