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

Why can't these trains operate during a freezing rain event? I understand ION was shut down last weekend.

The stuff I saw on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday lead me to believe that it was only the section north of Waterloo Public Square, and only for an hour or two. This article contains some more details:

Kitchener Today: 'Freezing rain is the most challenging', ION disruptions blamed on weather

It seems like it was the reduced weekend frequency coupled with a delay in getting the ice cutter pantographs deployed, and that valuable lessons were learned.
 
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Could it be an issue of a standing train on mainline track stationery so close to a junction? It looks like there is enough space between the end of the overpass and switch for a loco to stick out beyond the overpass and still have a line of sight to the signal bridge

Trains stand on mainline track close to junctions all of the time. Take Scarborough Station, for instance, or Pickering Station.

In this specific case however, there seems to be a concern about stopped trains and the sightlines with the signals for the plant west of the station. And I'm not sure I understand why, as the distance from the end of the platform to the bridge is 150 feet - that should be more than enough to allay any concerns about signal visibility, and is certainly no worse than the two examples listed above.

Dan
 
Yeah, my takeaway is that the southern half of the line was fine and the delay seemed to be pretty brief. Like with the Remembrance Day event, I get the impression that they are consciously trying to learn from events that happen, which is what will be important in the future.
 
Great new video from Iain Hendry:


Noticed the horizontial transit bars being used. Still not in the MTO diver's handbook, otherwise Toronto would them. They only allow the vertical bar.

See link.

3-2-9.jpg
 
Noticed the horizontial transit bars being used. Still not in the MTO diver's handbook, otherwise Toronto would them. They only allow the vertical bar.

See link.

3-2-9.jpg
The horizontal bars aren't bering used for any car traffic on the roads, so it doesn't really matter that they aren't in the Handbook.
 
Noticed the horizontial transit bars being used. Still not in the MTO diver's handbook, otherwise Toronto would them. They only allow the vertical bar.

See link.

3-2-9.jpg
I wish an LRT driver can tell us if the transit signals are explained in their operating handbook.
 
The horizontal bars aren't bering used for any car traffic on the roads, so it doesn't really matter that they aren't in the Handbook.

I imagine part of the compromise here between the Region and MTO (or whoever) is that ION signals are clearly separate and train-related, rather than placed in the same housing as regular traffic signals (like in the handbook example), where they could be more easily confused.
 
The vertical bar is also not for any car traffic. Yet it is in the Handbook.

Would it appease your nitpicking if I reworded it to "The horizontal bars aren't being used for any vehicle traffic on the roads, so it doesn't really matter that they aren't in the Handbook"? Because, really, you should have been able work out what I was meaning by that synecdoche. That vertical baron the traffic lights is for traffic in the lanes of the road governed by that traffic signal. The tram signals are not for vehicles on the roads so it doesn't matter whether they are vertical and horizontal bars, the Elder Futhark, or Sumerian cuneiform, and not knowing what they mean does not impact the driver's ability to operate their vehicle in a safe manner. They don;t need to be in the Drivers Handbook.
 
I imagine part of the compromise here between the Region and MTO (or whoever) is that ION signals are clearly separate and train-related, rather than placed in the same housing as regular traffic signals (like in the handbook example), where they could be more easily confused.

I'm not sure the MTO would have a basis for complaint - those train signals go back more than a hundred years, deriving first from human semaphores, then mechanical ones.
 

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