Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

[KevinT]

My phone vids from yesterday's testing:

Two clearance issues caught in this second video, first with the construction barrel at the end of the curb (not a permanent fixture) and then an issue with the "LRT This Lane" sign on the pole at the far side of the intersection.

None of these involved the actual vehicle, just the 'foam fingers' of the clearance rig. These do however represent a worst case envelope that allows for expansion, contraction, and a little bit of rock and roll, so that sign will have to be dealt with.

 

[KevinT]

 

[KevinT]

I caught 504 running in the OMSF yard under it's own power this morning:

 

[micheal_can]

Is the actual line completed?

 

[KevinT]

Is the actual line completed?

The region keeps saying that it is, but there are minor things still getting done to it here and there. Signals at the switches for the yard approaches are still black bagged, and the concrete around a rail at the Charles and Borden corner was jackhammered out on the weekend and replaced yesterday, so some mysterious thing or other was just done there. Calling it 99% complete would probably be accurate.

 

[jordanmkasla2009]

Is the actual line completed?

Technically speaking the line won't be completed until after the testing is done. But they have achieved "substantial completion" of the entire system

 

[KevinT]

Spotted Ion LRV 504 outside the yard under its own power this morning:



This is a first for any of Waterloo Region's vehicles. I couldn't hang around to catch it moving, but passed the Bearinger Rd crossing on my way into work and noted that police cars were waiting for it, and the external disconnect switches at the Traction Power Substation there were flipped ON for the first time I'd ever seen. (I check most every weekday morning, and they've always been padlocked OFF.) The power lights on the OCS poles were still off at the time, the automation probably had to flip its switches inside of the TPSS yet.

It's happening!

 

[Allandale25]

Great picture here: https://twitter.com/jgmacken/status/955846669223866368

 

[Contra]

Have there been any rumblings on them getting all their trains in time? Only around 14 so shouldn't be impossible for Bombardier but they've managed to muck enough up already.

 

[KevinT]

Went out on my lunch break and got a few more shots. (Apologies for the bad zooms, it's all just from my phone...)

Bearinger Rd TPSS switches on:


Based on what I'd seen in Millhaven, I really expected these lights on the top of the OCS polls to be flashing when the power in the system was on. They weren't, but LRV 504 was running anyway:

Edit: Someone in the Facebook group mercifully pointed out that these are surge arrestors. Now I want to go back to Millhaven with binoculars to see what was really flashing on the tops of some of their poles!


504 stopped on the northbound track between Bearinger Rd and Quiet Pl:


There was some extra diagnostic equipment inside 504 that was wired up to the roof through the windows:


At one point the front door on the far side opened and the ground crew stood in it talking to the folks inside. After a minute or so an automatic female voice chimed out "Please don't block the doors!" then repeated itself in french. Wish I'd gotten it on video!

 

[KevinT]

Apparently it got all the way down to the Research & Technology Park stop south of Bearinger, I only caught up to it when it was stopped near Quiet Place on its way back. Here it is headed north from there towards Old Albert St:

 

[KevinT]

By the time I got to Old Albert it had moved again, and I caught up to it at the OMSF as it headed south past the yard switch, then went into the yard to call it a day:

 

[crs1026]

At one point the front door on the far side opened and the ground crew stood in it talking to the folks inside. After a minute or so an automatic female voice chimed out "Please don't block the doors!" then repeated itself in french. Wish I'd gotten it on video!

Acceptance Checklist # 7, Tick Box 32 "Passenger-blocking-door Alarm operates correctly"........... tick.

- Paul

 

[muller877]

At one point the front door on the far side opened and the ground crew stood in it talking to the folks inside. After a minute or so an automatic female voice chimed out "Please don't block the doors!" then repeated itself in french. Wish I'd gotten it on video!

Acceptance Checklist # 7, Tick Box 32 "Passenger-blocking-door Alarm operates correctly"........... tick.

- Paul

And so important for the 215 people in the entire Waterloo Region who only speak French to know that they are the culprits. Sometimes the Official Language Act goes a bit too far.

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-r...Waterloo&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All

 

[jordanmkasla2009]

And so important for the 215 people in the entire Waterloo Region who only speak French to know that they are the culprits. Sometimes the Official Language Act goes a bit too far.

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-r...Waterloo&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All

You can blame Metrolinx for this inclusion tbh