Recent content by smallspy

It is going to the TMC, but that's likely a temporary measure until ONR can send equipment down to take it the rest of the way up to North Bay or Cochrane. Dan

Please stop. It's evident that you're out of your depth here. Components have and can be made compatible, or identical with each other. It just depends on the spec. Dan

All railways need inspection, and the more frequently used it is the more frequent the inspections must be. These guys appear to be inspecting and cleaning out a heavily used set of switches. Even the major railways, which do absolutely everything in their power to avoid paying for anything...

Do they, though? My understanding is that VIA is given a pretty free reign to use the resources that it has been given, and figure out the best way to maximize their use. This includes the ability to reallocate them if they deem necessary. Along those same lines what it can't do without...

The trains are configured the exact same as the VIA sets, down to the same seating and interior material choices. Dan

Because ridership was dropping, and so they didn't need to continue to run the equipment like that. They could save money on (not having to) maintaining them, for instance. So........no. MU operation on Queen ended in 1977. Despite that, the couplers weren't actually removed until 1989 or so...

I only recall two options - as it was eventually built, and an underground alignment with no station at Leslie. When did they suggest a south-side surface option? Dan

No, the purpose of running the two cars coupled was so that you could get two cars worth of passengers through a single green light. And in that context, they worked quite well. Dan

It's a vehicle design issue, so there is likely no way or method to decline the acceptance of the vehicles. It's just like how the battery electric-versions of the buses have thinner - and thus softer - floors than the diesels and hybrids. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but it...

This is an Alstom issue, not an MX one. The cars in Ottawa are built the exact same, and with the exact same warts. If anything, the Finch cars have a slightly better fit-and-finish - but only slightly. Dan

It's cell-based, and the service on the Siemens trains is actually quite decent. The legacy system on the old trains isn't so great, especially around Brockville and Cornwall. Dan

A lot of problems with the Alstom vehicles is that they are built like absolute shit. You shouldn't have spongy floors or poor-fitting access panels on brand new vehicles. Wall and kick panels should not feel like they're made of construction paper. Dan

In Ottawa, if you read the reports, the issues are not that the trucks can't turn well enough. It's the loading on the bearings because the trucks are poorly designed and don't constrain the bearings properly. In any case, you said that they're fixed to the body - they're not. They can and do...

This is unequivocally not true for most low floor LRVs, and especially not with the Citadis cars used in Ottawa, Finch West and Hurontario. Go look at a Finch West car and tell me how the trucks are not supposed to pivot but still allow the things to turn. Dan This is already baked into the...

The way things are written, as I understand it, the City has no unilateral path to improving things on the line, save for signal priority at intersections. (They can modify their own equipment to change the settings, not the equipment installed on the line itself to be clear.) Metrolinx, being...