Trillium Line Upgrades & Extension (Stage 2) [Greenboro to Airport/Limebank] | U/C

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Didn't she commit to "before the end of Spring" last time?

She made a comment, but she can argue that it wasn't a commitment.

It is interesting to see the time line graph, and it now extends possibly to the end of September.

[Richard Eade]

When I look at the timeline given, it seems to me that the dark green is labeled as ‘Passenger Service’. Maybe this is a soft-launch? There was talk of having the buses remain for a few months while the Trillium Line was verified as reliable. It might be that this is indicated by the dark green.


{graphic from the CTVnews article: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/oc-transpo...date-1.6842852)

On another note, the ‘Completion of Stations / Occupancy’ is shown, in the graphic, as ending before March. The text of the article states:

OC Transpo and its construction partners continue to make progress on testing, completing construction and securing occupancy permits.

I guess that they have slipped a bit on that initiative. Good thing that getting Occupancy Permits is not on the critical path.

Does anyone know how the 9 trains are divided? I am assuming; one between the airport and South Keys; and four each direction along the mainline, from Limebank to Bayview – but that might be incorrect.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Does anyone know how the 9 trains are divided? I am assuming; one between the airport and South Keys; and four each direction along the mainline, from Limebank to Bayview – but that might be incorrect.

From my understanding, two of the old single LINTs will run on Line 4, two double LINTs will run on Line 2, and 6 of the FLIRTs will be on Line 2, with one FLIRT as a spare.

Although it would make sense to have two LINTs as spares so they can be swapped for either line, so my spare ratio may be off.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

When I look at the timeline given, it seems to me that the dark green is labeled as ‘Passenger Service’. Maybe this is a soft-launch? There was talk of having the buses remain for a few months while the Trillium Line was verified as reliable. It might be that this is indicated by the dark green.


{graphic from the CTVnews article: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/oc-transpo...date-1.6842852)

On another note, the ‘Completion of Stations / Occupancy’ is shown, in the graphic, as ending before March. The text of the article states:

I guess that they have slipped a bit on that initiative. Good thing that getting Occupancy Permits is not on the critical path.

Does anyone know how the 9 trains are divided? I am assuming; one between the airport and South Keys; and four each direction along the mainline, from Limebank to Bayview – but that might be incorrect.

Seven trains on Line 2 and two on Line 4.

I was just out at South Keys and I briefly saw what is the ideal scenario, with two Line 2 trains at South Keys with a Line 4 train in the pocket track. This would allow Line 4 to arrive just before Line 2 going north, and Line 4 to depart just after Line 2 going south.

Unfortunately, what I saw today could not be maintained. Line 4 was operating on a 14 minute frequency (instead of 12 minutes), and Line 2 had a skipped trip, so there was a 24 minute gap between trains at South Keys. Then I saw a single Lint train going north at some odd ball time, so there were two Line 2 northbound in a row. That single Lint eventually came back. I also saw Line 2 and 4 trains delayed just south of Hunt Club at a signal, and at one point, two trains in a row waiting to enter South Keys, and then a northbound train at South Keys, with the southbound at Greenboro, which caused a delay, and further delay for Line 4 waiting to come into South Keys.

The running of trains will need to be very precise otherwise the schedule fails on the entire Line 2 and 4. If something goes wrong with the scheduling of any of the 9 trains, it will be very difficult to get everything back on schedule. This could potentially be worse than the scheduling problems that had existed previously with Line 2, and which I had experienced. Previously, the schedule would just float off-time for the whole route. With two routes affected in the future, it may be more complicated.

We are not ready for the final test yet.

[ponyboycurtis]

I would be happy if they just opened the god danged path at South Keys. That detour for x number of years now is wearing thin. Its already graded and edges marked out. Pave it please?

I feel like the other half of the detour/path from Hunt Club was paved in the winter. The concrete, bike shelter, garbage cans are in place. I think they even cut the concrete recently and added the expansion joints. Of course the light standards have exposed/marreted wires sticking out of them with no covers at knee level.

Every day that I happen to use it, either myself or someone else has ripped the wires binding the fencing together and pushed their way through. Stop treating us like idiots.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Seven trains on Line 2 and two on Line 4.

I was just out at South Keys and I briefly saw what is the ideal scenario, with two Line 2 trains at South Keys with a Line 4 train in the pocket track. This would allow Line 4 to arrive just before Line 2 going north, and Line 4 to depart just after Line 2 going south.

Unfortunately, what I saw today could not be maintained. Line 4 was operating on a 14 minute frequency (instead of 12 minutes), and Line 2 had a skipped trip, so there was a 24 minute gap between trains at South Keys. Then I saw a single Lint train going north at some odd ball time, so there were two Line 2 northbound in a row. That single Lint eventually came back. I also saw Line 2 and 4 trains delayed just south of Hunt Club at a signal, and at one point, two trains in a row waiting to enter South Keys, and then a northbound train at South Keys, with the southbound at Greenboro, which caused a delay, and further delay for Line 4 waiting to come into South Keys.

The running of trains will need to be very precise otherwise the schedule fails on the entire Line 2 and 4. If something goes wrong with the scheduling of any of the 9 trains, it will be very difficult to get everything back on schedule. This could potentially be worse than the scheduling problems that had existed previously with Line 2, and which I had experienced. Previously, the schedule would just float off-time for the whole route. With two routes affected in the future, it may be more complicated.

We are not ready for the final test yet.

You might be reading too much into the current testing.. It's explicitly not trial running, and they don't seem to be following the exact schedule. Sometimes the trains seem to sit at South Keys forever, other times they stop for a few seconds then go

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

You might be reading too much into the current testing.. It's explicitly not trial running, and they don't seem to be following the exact schedule. Sometimes the trains seem to sit at South Keys forever, other times they stop for a few seconds then go

At some point, they need to perform schedule adherence testing. This will tell us that 'final trial operation testing' is approaching soon. The kind of testing that is happening at the present time, tells us that we are still a bit away from final testing and opening. I think my observations are a reasonable assessment of the situation. This is consistent with public information saying that we are not yet in a position to announce an opening date.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

At some point, they need to perform schedule adherence testing. This will tell us that 'final trial operation testing' is approaching soon. The kind of testing that is happening at the present time, tells us that we are still a bit away from final testing and opening. I think my observations are a reasonable assessment of the situation. This is consistent with public information saying that we are not yet in a position to announce an opening date.

...it's also consistent with the fact that staff have not given any new timelines for trial running (which council and the public will receive I]daily updates[/I] on once it begins), and the fact that they've indicated that there is still work to complete.

So this is just speculation that tells us nothing that we didn't already know, and doesn't change anyone's expectations for timelines.

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[lrt's friend]

I watched a peculiar maneuver late this afternoon. The trains were consistently working with northbound mainline trains arriving at South Keys followed about 5 minutes later by the airport train. At one point, the airport train got to the main line first (south of Hunt Club). The mainline train was able to pull around the airport train to return to the normal sequence of trains. I looked at the rail layout shown of GeoOttawa and I wasn't sure how this was accomplished. I guess the most likely scenario is that the airport train was on the west track and the mainline train was in the east track, allowing the mainline train to pass. Then a southbound train crossed over to the east track while the airport train remained on the west track. There is two crossovers from the west track to the east track and one crossover doing the opposite. It seemed that the southbound mainline normally crossed over at the first crossover south of Hunt Club but on one occasion, it appeared that the southbound train crossed over at the second crossover located where the airport spur veers to the west. It was interesting watching these various scenarios.

[lrt's friend]

I spoke to a friend today who lives right next to Walkley Station about the train bells as trains arrive at the station. He wasn't aware of the purpose of the bells, but commented that he hears it all the time. He further said, that where his unit is located, it becomes part of grey noise. He hears it but it does not really bother him. But he wondered about the units at the station end of his building.