Waterloo Ion LRT: Interesting Infrastructure Features
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- A look at some of the notable features that Grand River Transit's Ion light rail system brings to Ontario.
Notes:
This video uses the broad definition of 'light rail', which includes any system using tram-like technology, including streetcars, LRT and some light metros (such as the Ottawa Confederation line).
Countless light rail systems have existed in Ontario (streetcars, interurbans, etc) but the TTC and GRT had the only operating systems at the time of filming.
Ottawa's O-Train Trillium Line is not a light rail line because it operates entirely on federally regulated railways (i.e. it's a commuter rail line). - Auta a dopravní prostředky
This is an exemplary CZcams video: observant, thoughtful and rational. The narrator is free from breezy, slangy empty talk and is instead, fair, intelligent and thorough. I love the originality and simple helpful reporting. I'm subscribing.
Ditto
same
Over here in Germany, our Stadtbahn-systems often use rail-like stretches of track too, mostly where they go between suburbs and the city center. Also the bar-type signals are pretty common here. Short explanation of Stadtbahn: Cities in Germany often have had tram systems for over 100 years, and as cities grew around the 1960s-80s, it seemed only feasible to put parts of the existing tram systems under ground. Mostly in the centers, while keeping the outer route branches as they were. NOT to be confused with existing local railroad systems (S-Bahn) or metros, which are entirely separate from roads.
Great observations and research! It's great to see a smaller city showing that at grade LRT is a viable in Canada. I really hope to see this type of system built in Victoria someday, as our Metro area is just a bit smaller than Kitchener-Waterloo, and more densely populated.
This line is so slow. It is slower than the bus service it replaced.
Something a bit more interesting about the right of way on the portion in Waterloo: thats a still used rail line called the waterloo Spur. They still are sending freight along it at night. Thats not just a right of way: the streetcar is sharing track with freight on an operational freight line. This also made the right of way extremely affordable; no land had to be expropriated etc.
Yeah, I had been meaning to go out some night to catch a GEXR freight come through (this was back when it was still GEXR) but I never got around to it. Also, I forgot to get footage of the gauntlet tracks when I was out on Saturday. So unfortunately I had no footage to use to illustrate that.
Hmm interesting.. didn't know that. Out here in Toronto, the rail gauge is so unique in the sense that no other train technology could be on the streetcar rails and vice versa.
@@nanaokyere7141 the new lrts in Toronto will be standard rail gauge.
@@robmausser Cool! Good to know. Thanks.
Ottawa has actually had the white vertical light for its public transit for a minute now.
Great video and overview of some of the quirks of our little system!
Great analysis of the new Ion LRT. I’ve liked and subscribed.
The flashing horizontal stop signal is the equivalent of the sensible simultaneous red-and-amber aspect that some countries' traffic lights use. One thing this video does not cover is the gauntlet tracks at some of the stations.
Fantastic observations , especially signalling inputs .
On the topic of transit signals and their apparent contravention of the HTA, I'd point out that the vertical bar transit signal is not new with the LRT in the region. Not only does the iON BRT, which launched first, use this signal, but this is also used by the GO Bus when entering the Smart Centre at
the 401 and Hespler Rd. There is a bus only left turn signal which shows a vertical bar. In all of these cases a vertical bar is shown above the regular signals. I suspect these signals are also used outside of the region. So I guess that some provision for this type of signal *must* exist in the HTA.
However, the LRT signals are an even more substantial version of this, where vertical and horizontal bars make up the entire signal. I suspect is allowed because as far as I understand it, the LRV is not governed by the HTA. It is not traveling on a public highway, but in it's own right of way.
I know white bars have existed in Ontario and the HTA for a while. The violation wasn't that they had a white bar, the violation is that they had a white bar, but didn't also have a green. Some of the white bar signals in Toronto have a green light that never actually gets used, simply to meet the HTA requirement. For example, northbound on Cherry St at King St.
the Ion gives us a good look at what the englinton crosstown above ground could look like
Very informative, thanks for the great work!
For the Highway Traffic Act, 144 (19.1) specifically mentions vertical bars that may allow "a transit bus or street car" to proceed. In addition, section 2 of the regulation you cite, which is included in the image you provide, allows for vertical and horizontal bars for use in traffic control systems. So it wouldn't be in violation of the HTA I believe.
I never said there's anything wrong with using a white bar. I said that the HTA requires green, yellow and red lights (in addition to any white bars)
You could argue the long signals are future-proofed for the longer connected LRVs.
The typical vehicle presence detection systems used in any intersection can detect the length of a vehicle (or rather, remain active until the back of the vehicle clears the detector). There is no need for extra time for a vehicle that isn't there.
reaperexpress; I totally agree. My biggest complaint about the LRT (and I may formally complain) is the long delay after the train has safely left an intersection for traffic to resume.
Not sure that makes much difference, signals convey speed. Signal spacing on the other hand might contemplate longer 'trains' although these things are really just streecars.
This is so amazing
The traffic signal for light rail is common in the US, I wonder if they just used the US code for the Canadian ones. Maybe it’s due to amend it to make it more universal.
Also the dedicated transit phase staying on too long pisses me off about Phoenix, AZ’s light rail! It also holds up pedestrians trying to leave the station.
This is a very good presentation about the Ion LRT of Waterloo. 👍🏽
The city of Toronto will *always* be different from other regions due to the large population, attractions, businesses, etc.
Great job.
Speeds are currently limited to 50 km/h and LOS operation everywhere as ATP has been disabled for the time being.
Ah that explains why they were only going 50 on the spur lines. Good to know! Hopefully ATP gets up and running soon.
What does LOS stand for? I know ATP stands for Automatic Train Protection.
@@FelixAn LOS = "Line of Sight" :) It just means operating visually - like driving a bus (watching what's ahead).
Fascinating!!!
In Edmonton Alberta, the white lines are used for busses at some intersections for priority. Some of them give the bus a ~7 second advance on a red light to move from a dedicated bus lane to the lane to the left to avoid waiting for traffic to let them in. They're also sometimes used to trigger a red light using an underground sensor. Jasper Ave EB @ Rice Howard Way downtown is an example. I'm unsure if Edmonton's new Valley Line LRT will be using this same system
The white bar signal is widely used in Europe Germany being one country using it
Interesting video. The signal layout of the Ion LRT was new news to me. I liked the comparison between the Ion LRT and the streetcar system in Toronto. The curbside layout of part of the Ion LRT is very different from what we have in Toronto, save for newer sections of track - I'm thinking of the tracks on Sumach and Cherry Sts south of King in the downtown east side.
I wonder if a comparison between the Ion LRT and the Calgary CTrain has merit. The latter system appears to feature a similar urban track arrangement, followed by more dedicated rail corridors that essentially radiate away from the downtown.
The side-of-the-road layout in Waterloo is still quite different from the side-of-the-road layouts in Toronto, such as Cherry Street or Queens Quay. In Toronto, there are two directions of streetcar tracks on the same side of the street, and traffic is only allowed to cross them where dedicated traffic signals are provided. In Waterloo, there is only one direction of light rail traffic on each side, and traffic is permitted to cross the tracks even where there is no dedicated traffic signal.
In the USA, streetcars have never been considered to be motor vehicles, thus it could be that Waterloo's white bar tram signals are likewise 'legal' as they are obviously intended only for light rail operator obedience. Note that the meaning of horizontal and vertical bars are derived from long forgotten railroad semaphore signals. Another important point, I assume that the paved streetcar-only lanes can also be used by emergency vehicles to bypass traffic jams. (Note that Massachusetts considers old fashioned trolley buses not subject to motor vehicle laws as long as they are powered ONLY from the overhead trolley wires!)
This was very interesting, I just wanted some shots of the train, we moved from Waterloo just as the train was setting up to run. I remember going to some of the planning sessions, originally there was no plan for it to go to Conestoga Mall, which everybody thought was absolutely nuts, it was going to simply go on into St. Jacobs and some empty fields rather than the largest mall in the city. We fought it at first because this was insane, and partly because living by Conestoga mall we'd get absolutely no benefit out of it. When we first moved to Waterloo over twenty years ago, the public transit system was just horrible, although this was before the big influx of asian students. They had hardly any pedestrian boxes for transit riders, but over the two decades the enhancements had it to the point where we were reallly excited to be riding it. Then we moved just before it was ready!
The signals look a lot like what we have in the Netherlands, except we use (circular) colored dots. All drivers are also taught to always yield to light rail, unless signals are in place. This despite the fact that you'll only encounter crossings where you're equal to LRT in larger cities.
Great video! It’s also interesting to note that despite the level boarding of the platforms, trains often take longer to board/alight than a typical streetcar or bus, particularly a CLRV. It could just be the fact that the system is new and the fact that it’s still in the honeymoon period, but it’s still interesting to note. There’s also the fact that signal systems are often in the pedestrian cycle when a train approaches. I’d say the success rate for getting through an intersection without stopping is about 50%, better than the streetcar system, but not as good as anyone would have anticipated. Hopefully sensor placement is changed to better reflect the time required to complete a pedestrian cycle before a train arrives at an intersection.
I also noticed that dwell times were long but I also think that was probably because on opening weekend there were so many passengers who had never ridden public transit before.
I experienced much better than 50% green signals. I read somewhere that they're using conditional priority, so it's possible you were on an early vehicle which wasn't actually getting priority at all.
Sensor placement only helps if it's in conjunction with corresponding programming adjustments. If you move the detectors further away without obtaining more generous timings (which the traffic department will typically oppose), you could end up missing the green light you called for yourself.
reaperexpress Oddly enough, crowding is still a very common occurrence (likely because the system is still free). I’m referencing issues that may arise on the Crosstown or Finch West LRT, where crowding will be a common occurrence.
reaperexpress oddly enough, my train was 8 minutes late on that trip.
Typically, that doesn’t have to be the case with signal priority, but it really depends on the intersection. Most of the intersections on king, for instance, allow trains and cars to run simultaneously. You could time a light with a further sensor to start to end a conflicting pedestrian minimum when the train goes over that further sensor, and knowing the speed limit of the LRV, you can turn the signal at a time in which the train does not have to slow down to enter the intersection. This would not really work at lights after stations because the dwell times of a train are so dynamic. What they could do instead is install 2 sensors, one that is further away from the intersection, and instructs the traffic signals to begin finishing the pedestrian cycle, clearing the intersection for the train and car operations in a safe manner. Once the train picks up passengers, the train can cross over a second sensor that enables it to enter the intersection.
Another potential solution to this issue is to just remove mandatory pedestrian crossings at all intersections along the route. This way, during the majority of instances, the train doesn’t even have to consider the pedestrian minimum when it’s given priority. It doesn’t always occur, but it can greatly improve reliability.
Yes, in fact I originally had a segment in this video talking about how the Waterloo signals don't default to "Green" for the LRT like the Toronto ones, they only show "green" when an LRV is approaching. But I had to delete it because I didn't have any footage showing that.
Many signals in Toronto do exactly what you described, 'truncating' the ped phase as the vehicle approaches. The problem is that the ped countdown is often 20+ seconds long and it is often not possible to reliably predict the streetcar's arrival that far in advance. From what I saw, I think Waterloo's signals do this as well, but also run into the same problem of not being able to reliably predict far enough in advance, due to stops, other signals, etc. Phase Truncation is often impossible because the time allocated to the side street is already the minimum time required for a pedestrian to cross the street, so once the pedestrian phase starts, there's nothing that can be done to shorten the side street phase.
The signals in Waterloo also only show the pedestrian phase when someone presses the button, just like you described. The problem is that the segments where the LRT operates on-street also tend to be areas with a relatively large number of pedestrians, so this only helps occasionally.
@@OntarioTrafficMan Ultimately, this just has me concerned about the Crosstown's implementation of signal priority, simply because that corridor requires guaranteed priority at all times.
I wonder how popular the Waterloo LRT is now. I hope it’s getting good use.
As for things in between rights of way, did you forget about the part of the Toronto streetcar system that extends to Mississauga? They have tie and ballast track there too.
No I didn't forget The Queensway. That is just another example of a dedicated streetcar ROW in the middle of a street, even if it did have ballasted track (until last year). When I said 'in between' I meant a light rail line that is not associated with any road at all, but still has level crossings.
Like the York University Busway?@@OntarioTrafficMan
Yes, exactly.
I think part of the reason the signals are so long is to accommodate connecting two trains together to make an extra long train. I know they made the platforms the length of two trains for that reason.
The vehicle detectors at every intersection can detect the length of a train. There is no need for extra time for a vehicle which isn't there.
Quite interesting video! Especially the light rail signal part. I live in Russia and here we have a separate signal system for light rail. It works almost like the one showed in video, but instead of two separate bars it consists of four circular white lights arranged in the form of letter "T". They flash separatly, thus adding more flexibility, so the signal apart from showing the horizontal bar (stop) and vertical bar (go straight) can also show angular shapes that mean "turn left" and "turn right".
I also have a question, from your video I see almost complete absence of switches on Canadian (well at least Toronto) light rail system, is that really true?
There are lots of switches on the Toronto network. There is an extensive grid of tracks, so there are lots of places to turn onto another street. But the streetcars can only go in one direction, so there are no crossover switches to get to the opposite track.
In Waterloo the vehicles can drive in both directions, so there are switches to crossover and head back the other way. But they built very few of them to save money. In my opinion they should have built more, so they don't have to shut down as much of the line if something goes wrong.
@@OntarioTrafficMan Well there is no crossover switches too (at least in Moscow, I don't know about other towns unfortunately). So as you said if something wrong happens the whole line just stands still, that's how I got late to university a couple of times. But usually everything works properly.
Also I thought that implementation of crossover switches and double-way lines requires some control room to exist to coordinate the different routes and vehicles, isn't it?
@@kelanianwesterndayser112 Yes, the Waterloo LRT has a central control centre as well as a signaling system which separates the vehicles from each other. Toronto also has a dispatching centre which can help where different lines merge together, but there is no signalling system which provides longitudinal separation between vehicles.
@@OntarioTrafficMan Lucky you! Our light rail system still uses time tables for drivers and non-electric switches (although there's fewer and fewer of them with every renovation period). And no control room, once the driver is out on the line, he's entirely on his own (there is a service center though). Probably that's why we don't have crossover switches...
@@kelanianwesterndayser112 Toronto also has some manual switches, though not along any normal routes. But the bigger problem is that the switch design is extremely outdated and unreliable, so all streetcars have to stop before the switch to make sure it's actually pointing the correct direction, and then proceed through at 10 km/h. It adds a huge amount of time in the city centre where there are tons of switches.
Just so you know. The system that "Waterloo Region" uses for traffic control is "emtrac" Link: www.emtracsystems.com/
And just so that you know: Emtrac is used in Waterloo Region By: ION, GRT Buses, Fire Services & Paramedics (They take full priority of traffic lights over all transit modes when responding in emergency (Priority calls) mode.
I enjoyed your video and would like to offer a few thoughts. One of the infrastructure oddities you mention is the various methods of running, private right of way & street.
One of the results of that is a wide variation in how road vehicles are protected from train movements. That ranges from flashing lights, bells & gates to nothing more than static no left signs & in the case of some side streets and laneways, nothing more than yellow track/road diagram signs. I predict collisions will occur and increase in winter owing to obscured road pavement markings.
Another odd infrastructure aspect to this system is the way it is integrated with the heavy rail line to Elmira. This even extends to tiny 'sidings' at the southbound track stations from Waterloo northward. This is to ensure heavy rail trains have adequate clearance. All heavy rail trains use the southward lON line for movement in both directions.
Interestingly, aspects displayed by the white 'bar' signals are similar to the day signal illustration for railway semaphores. Straight up & down means the same as green & horizontal the same as red.
Good points! The signals also follow the railway convention of "green" on top and "red" on the bottom, rather than vehicle traffic signals which are the other way around
@@OntarioTrafficMan signals designed to only have one light illuminated but of the 'stoplight' design as opposed to 'searchlight' style are green on top, but signals designed to have 2 or 3 lights lit at the same time may have the colours red, green, yellow in many combinations depending on the indications it has to display. Example, if track is lined thru a crossover, it may have red over green both lit at same time, or two reds over green, or green in the middle of two reds if a 3 aspect signal, each tells the crew they are crossing to the other track and the speed allowed... If lined straight ahead, it would be green over red, or over 2 reds.
@@rjb5847 Yes but even when it's a set of three signal heads, each individual signal head still has green on top if it's a stoplight (Darth Vader) style. So from top to bottom on a mainline signal set it would be [Green-Yellow-Red] [Green-Yellow-Red] [Green-Yellow-Red]. Although the topmost illuminated indication may well be red, that's still below the green indication on the top signal head which is not illuminated.
@@OntarioTrafficMan I'll have to look at them again, if what you say is correct, they are totally different than regular railway signal set ups. It is not possible to convey a suitable aspect for heavy rail trains leaving Waterloo town square for Elmira, because they have to crossover to the 'southbound' track just beyond Erb. A signal for that move under Canadian Rail Operating Rules has to indicate speed thru turnout so it must be red at top and green or yellow in middle or bottom. The alternative here would be that CN crews operating on that section use special instructions that involve the rule(s) ION operations employ.
They operate the exact same vehicles that Metrolinx will be using on the Crosstown. But my question to that is, will the crosstown operate paired units?
Yes. The Crosstown has to use paired units because the Metrolinx version only has a cab at one end. It needs another unit coupled back-to-back in order to head back in the opposite direction. The line can only operate with 2 or 3-car trains.
Toronto does NOT have light rail (yet). We only have streetcars for the time being
I was using the broad definition of 'light rail', meaning any type of system using tram-like vehicles. And anyway we do have some segments which would qualify as 'light rail' in the narrow sense, including the Bay Streetcar Tunnel and the tracks along The Queensway.
It does based on the cars.
Plus, the 509 & 512 use dedicated ROW
@@RRansomSmith Also the 510 Spadina
Checkout the intersection of Kingston Road and Queen St East... they have had similar white signals for ~10 years.
@@AntonyUpward No, those signals have red, yellow and green lights in addition to the white bar lights, as required by the HTA. The signals in Waterloo do not have any red, yellow, or green lights.
Waterloo ION is considered a railway, and is therefore exempt. Some sections of the TTC, as well as VIVA and OC Transpo use the bar signals. Vertical solid for go, vertical flashing for slow or yield and horizontal solid for halt.
The vertical white bar signal representing "green" is included in the Highway Traffic Act. Nothing unusual about those. What's unusual is the flashing white for "yellow", and the horizontal white for "red".
As far as I know, the Ion is the only system in Ontario with white bar signals for "yellow" and "red". The TTC definitely doesn't have any, and I don't think Viva does either. Are there examples in Ottawa?
I suspect you're right regarding the railway exemption. I guess the TTC just uses regular signals so they have the option of using buses on the streetcar or light rail lines.
@@OntarioTrafficMan Spadina and Queens Quay has those lights among other sections, and the Highway 7 Rapidway uses them as well, as does part of the Yonge Street Rapidway. As for Ottawa, pretty sure the Confederation Line uses the train signals. Can't confirm that though.
@@erycdamaso_613 Spadina and Queens Quay has a white bar for "green", but the yellow and red lights are actually yellow and red. That's exactly as per the Highway Traffic Act, so it's not particularly notable. Same with the Yonge Rapidway.
I'm talking about signals which use white bars for all indications, like the ones you see in Waterloo.
@@OntarioTrafficMan well, bear in mind they don't run "on the road" per se, right? And it's made very clear these aren't streetcars. They're light rail by definition. So, yeah, probably HTA exempt. I can double check that when I get into work tomorrow.
I find it strange that they put the "go" signal on top. Around here in Germany you often see these signals, and preserving the usual stop on top. They sometimes switch them for red/yellow/green during temporary construction when detouring "normal" vehicles on the tram tracks. A quick fix, only needs three color shades and a request button for the signal.
Railway signals have green on top and red on the bottom, while roadway signals are the other way around. This is true in Ontario, and it is also true in Germany.
This particular tram line uses railway-style signals, meanwhile the trams in Toronto use roadway-style signals with red on top and green on the bottom.
@@OntarioTrafficMan While it's true that go is typically put at the top and stop at the bottom for railways here in Germany (exception are the latest Ks signals and few nieche signals), that rule isn't a hard one for trams (which the Waterloo Ion LRT would be legally classified here). The examples on Wikipedia on the German tramway signal page depict the H/V signals as simplified versions of their railway counterpart (i.e. green at the top, red at the bottom) but the U-Bahn of Frankfurt, regardless on whether the signals are coloured (railway-like) or lines (roadway-like), always puts go at the bottom.
The ION line is done right! Toronto could have this instead of the stupid costly expansion of the already overloaded subway system. Toronto could have this up and running much sooner, serving many more commuters, and at less cost. Ford did a good job of confusing the public, saying LRT was just a streetcar when it is much different.
Not enough space within the city center for full dedicated right of ways.
Exactly. Because of ignorance and people not really caring as much as they should about transit, Rob Ford declared some parts of transit city dead. The only reason why he hated so much was because he "didn't want to see roads get ripped up to create more traffic". Not knowing that building a subway would require some roads to be completely closed and diverted. So his argument was irrelevant. He was also for the cars and not for transit. That's why he tried and failed to have the Eglinton crosstown built fully underground so there could be more cars on the road which would lead to more traffic. Now his idiot brother is trying to do the same thing without a care for the city and he's not going to succeed.
My favourite part was when Rob Ford managed to cancel the Scarborough LRT by claiming that LRT would interfere with traffic, even though the LRT was going to be completely grade-separated.
@@OntarioTrafficMan an LRT would have been fully up and running right now at a lot less money. He never could distinguish between a streetcar and an LRT.
Ottawa will have new lrt too
I was looking at some other videos of this and it seems like the signalling is all wrong. Also, the trains didn't seem to be going particularly fast, even on dedicated corridors. Do you know if these issues will be fixed?
Also, trains every 15 min and 10 min during peak is pathetic.
The speed is currently limited to 50 km/h on dedicated corridors because a part of the train signaling system is not yet working. Once that is fixed, trains will be able to get up to 70 km/h. The signaling definitely needs some adjustment. Hopefully they are still working on optimizing the signal priority setup.
@@OntarioTrafficMan Is the top speed only 70 km/h. Why not 80 km/h like most rapid transit systems?
The top speed of the vehicles is indeed 80 km/h, but the time savings between 70 km/h and 80 km/h is negligible given the distance between stops, so it didn't warrant the extra investment.
I'll have to read up on the definition of 'light rail' even if wikipedia says it's not very exact haha.
I think here in Germany even bus lanes sometimes use different signals from the standard traffic light. I guess that regulation might just apply to 'general' traffic, but special signals that only apply to trained drivers can be different? Like, the only reason traffic lights are the way they are is so they're standardised and that's what people learn when they learn to drive (or walk haha).
The concept of modern 'light rail' was pioneered in the 1960's in West-German cities such as Köln - Bonn, Essen and Stuttgart where it is known as Stadtbahn. The idea is for a metro-like service, but using tram technology which allows it to have level crossings and operate on the street if needed. Light rail in English is sometimes used to refer specifically to Stadtbahn, but can also be used as a general term for tram technology, which includes both Stadtbahn and Straßenbahn. In this video I was using the latter definition.
Interestingly, the German wikipedia page about 'light rail vehicle' uses the English term and says the concept comes from English speaking regions XD
Seems to be a very broad concept ^^
The modern first light rail systems in English-speaking countries opened in Edmonton Alberta (1978), Newcastle England (1980), San Francisco California (1980), Calgary Alberta (1981), and San Diego California (1981) which is more than 10 years after the first Stadtbahn lines in Germany. In fact, the North-American lines were almost exact copies of German concept, and the Edmondon, Calgary and San Diego systems even used the same Siemens-Duewag U2 trains that were originally developed for the Frankfurt U-Bahn (which is actually a Stadtbahn system, not an U-Bahn).
So basically, as soon as an underground/metro system somehow crosses with other traffic (be that running alongside it like trams, or intersections) it's light rail? Essentially "like trains, but slower & more stops"?
Yes, like you said, the definition is quite vague and depends on the person, but one common way to distinguish 'light rail' from 'metro' is that there are level crossings. Typically 'light rail' lines also tend to have smaller tram-like vehicles which are fed by overhead wires and can navigate tighter curves.
Of course, because all of the definitions are arbitrary there are systems which don't quite fit in properly. For example, the Chicago Brown Line and Yellow Line are typically considered metro lines, but they actually have some level crossings. And Los Angeles Green Line and the new Ottawa Confederation lines are typically considered light rail lines even though they are completely grade-separated.
Then to make things even more complicated, in addition to meaning "Light Rail Transit", "LRT" can also mean "Light Rapid Transit" (also known as 'light metro') which are metro systems which use smaller vehicles such as the London Docklands system or Toronto's Line 3 Scarborough RT.
As a rail vehicle, the LRT is not subject to the highway act and it's signal regulations, just like the Toronto streetcars and the railways. Another interesting feature of the Ion is it shares a right of way with freight trains, resulting in a gauntlet track, as described in the Wikipedia article about the Ion system.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_rapid_transit#Freight_trains
Interestingly, the TTC and City of Toronto follows the Highway Traffic Act to the letter on streetcar lines, even though it technically doesn't apply. My guess is that they do this to allow buses to run on the ROWs when necessary, which I guess ION decided not to allow.
Prior to the LRT opening, my house backed onto the LRT line, so I was very aware of the (then) GEXR freight trains passing along the line at 3AM. I had planned to include that in this video, but ended up cutting it out because I forgot to get footage of the gauntlet tracks.
love the new line, but...
i am surprised & a little disappointed they didn't use green track where they could've used it...
green looks so much nicer than grey, at least to my eyes it does...
Perhaps the Region wanted fire trucks to be able to use the rights-of-way efficiently. That's one reason Toronto typically uses concrete paved tracks.
@@OntarioTrafficMan while i didn't mean that the entire route should've been all green track, there are sections, such as between northfield & waterloo public square, as well as from mill to fairway where green track would've seemed more natural & logical...
again, green looks nicer than grey, & it is it's better for the environment, too...
many european cities use green track...
Concrete lasts longer and less maintenance intensive.
@@RRansomSmith yeah, i don't agree with your assessment...
concrete degrades over time, especially when used by heavy vehicles, & it is costly to repair when it does degrade...
grass just grows & maybe you have to cut it once in a while...
@@daveoh13
Nah. It degrades, but not as quickly as grass needs to be cut and possibly resodded. And, in bad weather, dirt tends to shift and cause slide conditions on the tracks.
It just look like a modern-day trolley to me
Yes it is a modern tram system
This video inspired us to create our version that focuses more on the signals: czcams.com/video/lETsrgOQtgY/video.html
This doesn't show how to use the kiosk with a fare card of either stored value or monthly pass. Like for when the toll poles at the ends of platforms are down.
Those transit signals look European
I'm a tram and I approve this video!!
These features are banned in the U.S.A.
Specifically which features? The style of signals?
This Ion is nightmare in waterloo. There have been many accidents so far, and they will continue. Waterloo's infrastructure was not set up for this, we had light rail years ago and we paved over it for good reason.
It got paved over not because it was dangerous, like you are implying, but because it was underfunded and badly maintained, which drove users away. Another factor was that GMC was heavily lobbying governments that provided transit to use its electric trolley busses rather than streetcars or trams.
Bytor GMC could have built LRT vehicles
@@bytor4914I stand by what i said.
Kitchener-Waterloo's 1970s & before old buses attached to overhead electric grid were much faster but this obsolete system with over a billion real costs had to be made to support both Quebec main companies Lavalin known for world wide corruption & Bombardier.All the facts mentioned can be supported.
Kitchener-Waterloo taxpayers feel sorry for them.
RF Johns ok boomer