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

[rbt]

The problem remains that there are authorities who see light rail vehicles as only a single vehicle, and ignore the number of passengers onboard the said vehicle.

I'm hopeful that the new GTA model (other cities will get one too) will help solve this. The old/current model was too simple and only dealt with large objects; it was horrible for people flow or even capacity limits (it would happily give Danforth numbers that cause Yonge to carry 50k pphpd, well beyond capacity).

The new mechanism is effectively particle flow which is enough to deal with people, capacity limits, and relatively fine-scale obstructions like lane narrowing or cyclists. It'll take a bit of time but traffic engineers will eventually get their hands on this and be able to do a better job at configuring for moving people.

Metrolinx is getting it first but it ought to trickle down to the more general traffic engineers eventually. Without this type of granularity in the tools they're stuck with guess, measure effects, tune again, and repeat; continued funding cuts in these departments would never allow for that.

 

[Duck]

Just to clarify, I think you guys are confusing the (poor) wording in the article. No one is suggesting that the LRV's will stop at railway crossings and THEN the gates go down. They will operate just like any other railway crossing, where the train 100% gets priority and will fly through at 70 km/h on the two spur lines.

Where the questionable priority thing came up was with intersections, where the arriving train will not necessarily automatically get a white bar (which, to me, is stupid - for the reasons cited above by others). It totally defeats the purpose of rapid transit. But that's what you get with light rail, which is forced to play by the rules of the road instead of being on an elevated, dedicated beamway (ahem).

 

[Markster]

No one is suggesting that the LRV's will stop at railway crossings and THEN the gates go down. They will operate just like any other railway crossing, where the train 100% gets priority and will fly through at 70 km/h on the two spur lines.

Unfortunately, there still hasn't been much in terms of confirmation either way on this one, either. Fingers crossed though.

 

[Duck]

No rail system in the history of entire world operates this way, so I'm fairly certain Waterloo isn't going to be the first.

 

[Allandale25]

I'm not too familiar with the ION route. Are there some locations with gates?

 

[Markster]

I'm not too familiar with the ION route. Are there some locations with gates?

Yes, it appears there will be gates along the Waterloo Spur.

I've seen the footings for the future gates myself at Columbia St:

 

[Allandale25]

Yes, it appears there will be gates along the Waterloo Spur.

I've seen the footings for the future gates myself at Columbia St:
View attachment 63823

Ah, thanks for that. I'm interested because that article about the Edmonton LRTs has caused some of the anti-LRT people in other cities to try and claim what happened in Edmonton will happen in those cities. I think in this case, the LRT is following the existing railway so it's not really a new crossing gate. As Duck pointed out though, on this section, "They will operate just like any other railway crossing, where the train 100% gets priority and will fly through at 70 km/h on the two spur lines."

 

[muller877]

Yes, it appears there will be gates along the Waterloo Spur.

I've seen the footings for the future gates myself at Columbia St:
View attachment 63823

I thought it is required. The Waterloo Spur is used for freight at night as well as LRT (or to be clear one of the tracks is used for freight). So this portion of the tracks have requirements that is the same as a railway.

 

[nfitz]

I thought it is required. The Waterloo Spur is used for freight at night as well as LRT (or to be clear one of the tracks is used for freight). So this portion of the tracks have requirements that is the same as a railway.

There's never been gates there before, when it has functioned as both a freight and passenger railway. So those gates aren't being used for the nightly freight run.

What I've seen for those freight runs, is a flagman walking ahead of the train.

 

[Markster]

Yeah, these gates are going to be new. There have never been gates on any of this spur through Waterloo as far as I've seen.

What I've seen for those freight runs, is a flagman walking ahead of the train.

They do that in Uptown at King St, where there is no rail crossing signal. It's always fun when you just see a guy walk into the middle of the street... and then a train pops out seemingly from nowhere out of a small alleyway!

On Columbia, they don't use a flag man, and simply rely on cars stopping for the flashing signal lights.

 

[nfitz]

On Columbia, they don't use a flag man, and simply rely on cars stopping for the flashing signal lights.

They used to use a flagman there too.

 

[Markster]

Perhaps it didn't have the flashing signal back then?
I know I've seen trains without flagmen pass Columbia in recent years. They're still moving relatively slowly, of course, but faster than walking speed. Maybe 20km/h.

I think in this case, the LRT is following the existing railway so it's not really a new crossing gate.

It's been entirely possible for someone to drive Columbia off and on for years, and never be stopped for a train. It's going to be a real change for everyone when crossing arms are coming down every ~5 minutes.

 

[nfitz]

It's been entirely possible for someone to drive Columbia off and on for years, and never be stopped for a train. It's going to be a real change for everyone when crossing arms are coming down every ~5 minutes.

I drove it daily (or more) for a decade, and never got stopped by a train. I only ever saw the train when playing at the adjacent baseball diamond.

 

[Duck]

The spur freight speeds are increasing (up to 40 km/h) which is permitted now that there will be crossing arms. The line speed was limited to 25 km/h without them (or any signals, for that matter).

 

[Duck]

A temporary shelter is being constructed at King and Victoria, to cover the grade separation work and allow crews to keep working through the winter.