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

[rocketphish]

Some shots of Greenboro Station from Doors Open today:











https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...tional-capital

[zzptichka]

[rocketphish]

More FLIRT photos:

Take a sneak peek inside Ottawa's new Swiss-made trains
Trillium Line vehicles were briefly on display Saturday at Doors Open Ottawa

Guy Quenneville · CBC News · Posted: Jun 04, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...open-1.6864912

[OTSkyline]

Looking good. Have they given more indication of when the line should be handed to them and when they might be in operation? I've heard reports of late summer or fall... Ideally it'd be just in time for back-to-school.

[RogueNacho]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Looking good. Have they given more indication of when the line should be handed to them and when they might be in operation? I've heard reports of late summer or fall... Ideally it'd be just in time for back-to-school.

I was at the Greenboro open house on Saturday and spoke with one of the train operators. He said they are currently still on track for a fall opening, probably in October if all the testing goes well. He mentioned that they have begun testing of the train vehicles and switch system on the southern portion of the track, and that he expects to begin full testing along the entire length of the track sometime by the end of the month. I asked him quite bluntly if everything has been working smoothly so far and he said for the most part the new trains are performing very well and there haven't been any major issues with the switching system so far, though they are still ironing out lots of little kinks here and there. He joked that a lot of the OC Transpo train operators much prefer the new FLIRT trains versus the Alstom ones on Line 1, and that some of them are quite jealous of the operators selected for driving the Line 2 vehicles LOL.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by RogueNacho

I was at the Greenboro open house on Saturday and spoke with one of the train operators. He said they are currently still on track for a fall opening, probably in October if all the testing goes well. He mentioned that they have begun testing of the train vehicles and switch system on the southern portion of the track, and that he expects to begin full testing along the entire length of the track sometime by the end of the month. I asked him quite bluntly if everything has been working smoothly so far and he said for the most part the new trains are performing very well and there haven't been any major issues with the switching system so far, though they are still ironing out lots of little kinks here and there. He joked that a lot of the OC Transpo train operators much prefer the new FLIRT trains versus the Alstom ones on Line 1, and that some of them are quite jealous of the operators selected for driving the Line 2 vehicles LOL.

I think sentiment was similar with the LINTs too - these trains are actually being "driven" by the operator, so the job is engaging and requires practising skill. It's very different work than Line 1. The only difference from past operations is that Line 2 Light Rail Operators will no longer also drive buses - there's a big enough pool now that that isn't necessary anymore.

The one thing I noticed at Greenboro is the upgraded passenger information system. It's the same system from TG Baker that's installed on Line 1, so a huge improvement over the useless screen and unintelligible bullhorn that was there before. The big difference is that the screen was in colour, so it'll be easier to highlight important messages.

[kmcamp]

Walkley station seems to have reached completion. It has signs, ticket machines, gates, and the big red lollipop

[Spoonsy]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

Walkley station seems to have reached completion. It has signs, ticket machines, gates, and the big red lollipop

same with bayview - signage and even garbage cans were installed on the platform last week as well as a noticeable effort to clean up scattered trash. signal lights are on and red. yellow buffer stop was installed on the rail line.

there are also two Harsco tampers parked at Bayview now, usually only saw one at a time - one must have come up from the south and they're preparing to lift them out?

pretty stoked to see things nearing the home stretch


https://i.imgur.com/rGHGwj5.jpg

[DTcrawler]

Feeling more optimistic about a late-2023 launch for sure. I doubt they'd be undertaking these finishing touches if they were still drastically behind schedule elsewhere on the line.

Wondering if anyone with more knowledge of the progress can share which critical works still need to be finished.

[Davis137]

I still think having this line be a single track is a huge mistake. When this service runs reliably, and ridership increases (due to the increase in population living in the ever-expanding suburbs south of the greenbelt), there will come a point in time where this line will be over capacity and will need to be upgraded to dual tracks anyways. By choosing to not do it now because of cost is foolish, as we all know the cost of modifying it in the future will be 3x-10x the expense it would take to do it now. I also think that if there is any incident involving a mechanical failure or derailment, it brings the entire line to a halt, and likely for several days. Is there any plan B for situations like this, or will it simply be a reactive one as per OC's SOP?

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by Davis137

I still think having this line be a single track is a huge mistake. When this service runs reliably, and ridership increases (due to the increase in population living in the ever-expanding suburbs south of the greenbelt), there will come a point in time where this line will be over capacity and will need to be upgraded to dual tracks anyways. By choosing to not do it now because of cost is foolish, as we all know the cost of modifying it in the future will be 3x-10x the expense it would take to do it now. I also think that if there is any incident involving a mechanical failure or derailment, it brings the entire line to a halt, and likely for several days. Is there any plan B for situations like this, or will it simply be a reactive one as per OC's SOP?

I don’t think anyone will disagree that the decision to not fully double track the line during this closure is one that is extremely short sighted and will cost the city much more money (not to mention headaches and disruption for customers) in the future.

It reminds me of the type of messaging we used to hear leading up to the Line 1 launch, that, “it will be the busiest light rail system in North America from the day it launches.” Obviously the pandemic has bought us some time, but statements like that do nothing but illustrate how much we favour saving saving some cash now at the expense of having to pay ten-fold at some point down the road.

[SL123]

Originally Posted by Davis137

I also think that if there is any incident involving a mechanical failure or derailment, it brings the entire line to a halt, and likely for several days. Is there any plan B for situations like this, or will it simply be a reactive one as per OC's SOP?

Double Tracking has not saved the Confed line from closing for weeks because of a derailment

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Davis137

I still think having this line be a single track is a huge mistake. When this service runs reliably, and ridership increases (due to the increase in population living in the ever-expanding suburbs south of the greenbelt), there will come a point in time where this line will be over capacity and will need to be upgraded to dual tracks anyways. By choosing to not do it now because of cost is foolish, as we all know the cost of modifying it in the future will be 3x-10x the expense it would take to do it now. I also think that if there is any incident involving a mechanical failure or derailment, it brings the entire line to a halt, and likely for several days. Is there any plan B for situations like this, or will it simply be a reactive one as per OC's SOP?

Not to mention the inevitable closures that will come when the time comes. We closed a line with 20k ridership for 3 years! In 5-10 years, we'll be closing a line with40k ridership for months or years. How incredibly stupid and short-sighted.

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

“it will be the busiest light rail system in North America from the day it launches.”

Yup, that was a clue, THE clue, that LRT was not the right technology.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Yup, that was a clue, THE clue, that LRT was not the right technology.

Exactly.

From what I have heard, the FLIRT platform is very flexible, allowing modifications (during manufacturing) for different platform heights and they can be electrified. I wonder if we could order them in a configuration that would work as a replacement for the Citadis Spirit.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Exactly.

From what I have heard, the FLIRT platform is very flexible, allowing modifications (during manufacturing) for different platform heights and they can be electrified. I wonder if we could order them in a configuration that would work as a replacement for the Citadis Spirit.

I think they are way too big for the infrastructure along the Confederation Line. They would probably be even worse for handling large volumes of people coming in and out of the train due to the steps in the train and having far fewer doors (8 on an 90 meter train v. 14 on a 97 meter train).

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I think they are way too big for the infrastructure along the Confederation Line. They would probably be even worse for handling large volumes of people coming in and out of the train due to the steps in the train and having far fewer doors (8 on an 90 meter train v. 14 on a 97 meter train).

I see the only long term option for the Confederation Line being a new optimized rolling stock that takes all of the lessons from the Citadis debacle and improves upon it. A 'Citadis North Edition' if it was manufactured by Alstom. They could market it for Northern Climes with slogans like 'This one stays on the tracks around curves!' and 'This time we didn't forget to add plow mounts!'.

[lrt's friend]

I look at one positive from our failure to double track. When the time comes, it may spur the city to finally build an urban subway under Bank Street rather than waste tons of money on a line that fails to take a lot of people to their downtown destinations. And finally properly resolve the Lansdowne Park transportation issue. The further benefit is that we won't need to take Line 2 out of service for another three years, which is inevitable, no matter what some engineers claim.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I see the only long term option for the Confederation Line being a new optimized rolling stock that takes all of the lessons from the Citadis debacle and improves upon it. A 'Citadis North Edition' if it was manufactured by Alstom. They could market it for Northern Climes with slogans like 'This one stays on the tracks around curves!' and 'This time we didn't forget to add plow mounts!'.

For sure. With the popularity of these ill-thought-out urban metro type low-floor LRTs, companies will need to design one that looks more like a high floor light metro. More doors, fewer seats, better wheel configuration to avoid the bump outs as much as possible, long, continuous trains (not two cars, 4 cabs).

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I look at one positive from our failure to double track. When the time comes, it may spur the city to finally build an urban subway under Bank Street rather than waste tons of money on a line that fails to take a lot of people to their downtown destinations. And finally properly resolve the Lansdowne Park transportation issue. The further benefit is that we won't need to take Line 2 out of service for another three years, which is inevitable, no matter what some engineers claim.

That's my hope at this point. Couple more upgrades with Walkley and Dow's Lake station, then just build a new north-south line.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

For sure. With the popularity of these ill-thought-out urban metro type low-floor LRTs, companies will need to design one that looks more like a high floor light metro. More doors, fewer seats, better wheel configuration to avoid the bump outs as much as possible, long, continuous trains (not two cars, 4 cabs).



That's my hope at this point. Couple more upgrades with Walkley and Dow's Lake station, then just build a new north-south line.

Funny how we ended up buying trams and commuter trains rather urban rail cars for our urban rail network. Both were highly questionable choices.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Funny how we ended up buying trams and commuter trains rather urban rail cars for our urban rail network. Both were highly questionable choices.

Well, in the line 2 case there wasn't actually another option. It's legally a mainline railway, thus needed mainline legal trains. It was actually somewhat amazing we were allowed the flexibility by Transport Canada to at least use Euro spec trains, rather then something more like a short GO train.

I feel like if they hadn't reused the old mainline with the pilot project years ago, it's likely they would have converted the transitway to the same tech as the confed line. You would have been able to reach downtown single seat that way.

A bank street subway will never, ever, happen in this town.