jayme2016
Active Member
There was something like 80 buses stuck yesterday.
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Ottawa Transit Developments
- Thread starter Reecemartin
- Start date
There was something like 80 buses stuck yesterday.
lrt's friend
Active Member
The city underestimated the cost of the project originally and the province punished the city for cancelling the previous project after the contract was signed. The end result was that the city was covering substantially more than the one third obligation. In order to avoid the cost escalating out of control, they cut corners on the project to keep it on budget. I expect that some of those savings were achieved by under configuring the three transfer stations, all of which have proven inadequate.
Allandale25
Senior Member
OCCheetos
Active Member
The main work that requires a shutdown is the construction of a flyover at the Ellwood junction and the lengthening of all existing passing tracks, along with extensive rehabilitation of the Dow's Lake tunnel and Rideau River bridges.
OCCheetos
Active Member
With regards to some of these:
Snow issues: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only two issues that are directly caused by snow are with the switches and the intrusion detection system. The former is relatively easy to fix, and the latter is supposed to just be a calibration problem. The "inductor" issue isn't exclusive to snow and could be caused by rain too. Saying "snow" issues is incredibly broad, especially considering some of the coverage the "snow issues" have gotten, some of which turned out to have been actually addressed already.
Door issues: The "door guards" aren't related to the door "problems". They were put in place by RTM because the CCTV system that would allow for single person operation was not functioning reliably. The state of the CCTV system is unknown, but presumably the "guards" are there as a back up for the time being anyway, and I believe are also technicians able to address a train if it happens to break down in a station. I'd say the CCTV issue is near the bottom of the list of concerns for actual operations since a guard can be used anyway.
jayme2016
Active Member
Our mayor is much like Tory both don't like increasing taxes which is part of the issue you can't improve things if you have a low tax increase.
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
While it's evident that I wasn't particularly specific, the fact of the matter is that these issues exist. Considering the insane amount of time the contractor had to work out the kinks, there is no way the vast majority of these should be acceptable. 1-3 issues I get, but dozens?
I'm no electrical engineer, but if an inductor doesn't have enough shielding and is being shorted by snow and water, there's a serious oversight there.
A reliable CCTV system is not that difficult to install. While from a foaming perspective it's quite unique seeing them, there should be no reason for deploying them on a brand new system.
OCCheetos
Active Member
Sure, but on a system over a year late there's no reason for that to be a deal breaker for opening the line when it is possible to just replace them with guards for the time being.
At least the Confederation Line didn't launch without a working ATP system like ION did.
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
ATP is not necessary for iON though, and hasn't the ATO system in Ottawa screwed up a few times as well?
I don't disagree with the sentiment that new extensions will open without any teething issues, but Ottawa's case has been absurd.
jayme2016
Active Member
While there have been issues and i would say serious ones the other thing is people are complaining about things that are typical with any system.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Wonder what the "teething issues" were when Toronto's brand new Yonge Street Subway opened in 1954? But then there were less electronics, no computers, and no cell phones.
Kyle Campbell
Active Member
At the beginning I would have agreed with the statement, but we're way beyond teething issues and typical problems now. Having less than half the fleet available for months now isn't a normal problem, and the catenary collapsing twice isn't a normal problem.
This launch has been a disaster, but there aren't really any good options. The best option is probably to send all the express buses back downtown in rush hour and make S1 a permanent service for the next year at least. It's going to take a long time before the train works the way it's supposed to.
I wish best of luck on REM, but I hope they are learning from this. They'll be running an above ground automated system in an even worse climate than Ottawa.
I know there's a bunch of councilors trying to invoke the nuclear option of tearing up the deal, but I see that as making a terrible situation even more terrible. It's not like there's a train dealership with a bunch sitting out on a lot, it'd be years before we could get a replacement train, and if we keep the same ones at the moment Alstom itself does the maintenance, it's not like there's a more experienced option sitting out there. Other than a quick feel good, we'd accomplish nothing.
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jayme2016
Active Member
1)Many complain about waiting 4-5 minute wait also many think the trains go to fast and it makes them feel sick.
2)As for REM they need to learn from systems in Montreal that are having major major issues.
Kyle Campbell
Active Member
Ottawa is a better parallel for REM learnings, being ATO and mostly above ground with overhead catenary, ignore the lowfloor vs highfloor part for now.The metro being entirely underground is a different beast, and the current Exo rail service isn't really comparable.
The crosstown should also be learning from Ottawa, though Toronto's climate is somewhat milder than Ottawa.
robmausser
Senior Member
Not only are the REM trains not a brand new design like Ottawas were, but they are specifically using technology for cold weather climates in mind
REM trains will withstand Montreal winters, planners promise
Doubts have been raised following problems during tests of Alstom-manufactured trains in Ottawa.
montrealgazette.com