ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[tomh009]

With a monorail we would only have half the length of rail we have today!

[Canard]

Or it could have gone all the way to Cambridge, and up to St. Jacobs, with a second line running East/West, for the same price! Amazing!

[Canard]

1/7 - September 30, 2017

A couple of weeks ago, the weather was absolutely perfect, and I decided I'd try and take some more-or-less finished-off photos of the entire line, from head to toe.  Here are some photos from the first half of that day.

   
Fairway

   
Fairway

   
Fairway

   
Fairway (I understand this is now embedded)

   
Fairway driver's facilities deficiencies rework

[Canard]

2/7 - September 30, 2017

   
Fairway Hydro Corridor Right-of-Way.  I've always assumed they'd have speed limit signs up, but perhaps with the in-cab singling (ATP), they don't need it here - and the speed limit signs on the Waterloo Spur are only there because its' shared with freight?  There are no speed limit signs up on the Huron Spur (dedicated LRT track), either.

   
Courtland.  Note the unfortunate lack of sidewalk on the West side.

   
Courtland, looking the other way

   
Incomplete crossing at Courtland/Shelley.  Progress here has been agonizingly slow.

   
Looking back down Courtland, from Block Line.  Note the guard rails for the outboard track are still just siting there and haven't been pinned down.  Has all work here been halted until the expropriation agreements can be completed?

[Canard]

3/7 - September 30, 2017

   
Block Line station. Note the completed landscaping on the right.

   
Crosswalk detail

   
Looks like a path will run along the length of the tracks on the future Vierra Village side

   
Love the purple

   
Hayward; note complete sidewalks and textured concrete at the left.

[Canard]

4/7 - September 30, 2017

   
Hayward/Courtland interface

   
Ballasted track with deck plates on Hayward; still curious how come we have crossing arms further along (Block Line, etc.) but we can get away without them here. Speed limits, maybe? Would love to see the "rule book" on how they decide what type of crossing guarding go where

   
Tamper & Friends

   
Looking down the Huron Spur, from Mill

   
Mill station; one of my favourites

[Canard]

5/7 - September 30, 2017

   
North end of Mill station. Note the landscaping

   
Transition for the Northbound track off of the spur, onto Ottawa. Not much fun cycling right here; it's tight

   
Ottawa

   
Ottawa (whee!)

   
Borden. Note the landscaping on the left of the rapidway

[Canard]

6/7 - September 30, 2017

   
Borden/Charles. Love the giant road signs

   
Borden

   
Borden

   
Charles

   
Charles, at Kitchener Market

[Canard]

7/7 - September 30, 2017

   
Kitchener Market station

   
Queen station

   
Completed Grade Separation on King, North of Victoria

   
King St., in front of Grand River Hospital

   
Finally seeing some progress at R&T Park

[Canard]

Fairway Hydro Corridor Right-of-Way.  I've always assumed they'd have speed limit signs up, but perhaps with the in-cab singling (ATP), they don't need it here - and the speed limit signs on the Waterloo Spur are only there because its' shared with freight?  There are no speed limit signs up on the Huron Spur (dedicated LRT track), either.

Hat tip to Tim Mollison on the facebook LRT group, who I think has it figured out:

   

Putting speed limit signs along the Test Track makes a whole lot of sense - where it can't be expected that in-cab signalling (ATP) will be available from day one.

And yeah, about that...  

[Elmira Guy]

Or it could have gone all the way to Cambridge, and up to Elmira, with a second line running East/West, for the same price!  Amazing!

Fixed that for you.

[Pheidippides]

Tom Galloway was on CBC K-W this morning and said that they will be towing the LRV on the test track on Thursday and powered tests in November.

He also said a number of other things about Ion in general, and the Bombardier order, but I wasn't able to process it all as my attention was demanded by my previously Ion obsessed son (he's gotten tired of waiting and had moved on to other interests).

[rangersfan]

This is the CBC article with Tom Galloway :

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/kitch...-1.4354443

[Canard]

Good to see confirmation of the pull-through. I wonder how much they’ll do each day.

[trainspotter139]

Tom Galloway was on 570 News' The Mike Farwell Show today. He said that Vehicle 13 has begun assembly, vehicle 3 is pretty much ready to ship, and vehicle 4 is almost ready as well.