Calgary Public Transit II

[TETT2]

Whats with all the "Nevermind" posts?

[mwalker_mw]

Originally Posted by TETT2

Whats with all the "Nevermind" posts?

Nevermind.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by TETT2

Whats with all the "Nevermind" posts?

Google caching seems to indicate all/most/some were just posting links to online articles..

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by TETT2

Whats with all the "Nevermind" posts?

HUGE Nirvana fan. This month is the 19th anniversary of when the recording of their breakthrough album started.

[mersar]

Just noticed a post on cptdb that mentioned the portable trailer that the Siemens technicians use while they are in Calgary during delievery of new LRV's has arrived at Anderson, which coincides with the June 2010 date for the first of the new SD160's arriving

[sim]

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but construction on the Park n Ride for the SE BRT is well underway on 114 Ave. I'm curious to see its eventual utilization once finished.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by sim

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but construction on the Park n Ride for the SE BRT is well underway on 114 Ave. I'm curious to see its eventual utilization once finished.

Likely will take awhile to get the usage up. The 17th Ave Sirocco lot took 3 or 4 years to start filling up to the point of needing to be in it before 9.

[DarkKeyo]

Originally Posted by mersar

Just noticed a post on cptdb that mentioned the portable trailer that the Siemens technicians use while they are in Calgary during delievery of new LRV's has arrived at Anderson, which coincides with the June 2010 date for the first of the new SD160's arriving

I'm looking forward to this (although I guess I wont be able to ride one until September). Other than the side seating, I'm looking forward to the new features these new cars will have.

I'm kind of curious if they plan on modifying any more of the old SD160's in the way that they did to 2202 and the 3 others. It actually looks quite nice.

Update on construction: City Hall station is gone except for the signals, has been for a while now. The brick thing near the switches that had the kilometre marker is gone too, presumably to be replaced by the fancy futuristic version shown in the station renderings. Most of 3rd St SE is gone. At 4th St they seem to be pouring the base for the new staircase from the +15, and digging up the area around the parkade. The block between 3rd and 4th st has the new caternary poles up. I assume this summer they will have to close downtown again in order to move the crossover tracks and reinstall the signals on the City Hall and 3rd SE blocks. As well as do the new sidewalks and caternary poles for the block between 8th and 9th St. I'm curious as to what they'll eventually do to Centre St station, as it will be the only unique station downtown.

The pedestrian bridge at McKnight is taking shape. They're still working on the ROW for the NE extension, at least as far as I could see from Metis Trail. No work at 64 Ave, I still don't know if they are doing the interchange or just an LRT underpass. It makes more sense to me to build the interchange, since work was already started on it, and its easier to build over the LRT tracks than lower them.

[CorporateWhore]

Originally Posted by freeweed

HUGE Nirvana fan. This month is the 19th anniversary of when the recording of their breakthrough album started.

Haha, gold.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by DarkKeyo

No work at 64 Ave, I still don't know if they are doing the interchange or just an LRT underpass. It makes more sense to me to build the interchange, since work was already started on it, and its easier to build over the LRT tracks than lower them.

Just an LRT tunnel underneath 64th Ave. Work should start fairly soon. Some of the grading done for the interchange will be redone.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by DarkKeyo

I'm kind of curious if they plan on modifying any more of the old SD160's in the way that they did to 2202 and the 3 others. It actually looks quite nice.

Word has it that 2211 is next up for the roofline change that the others (2202, 2204, 2205, 2207) have gotten so far.

Originally Posted by DarkKeyo

At 4th St they seem to be digging up the area around the parkade and pouring the base for the new staircase from the +15. The block between 3rd and 4th st has the new caternary poles up.

Yep, noticed the nice deep hole they've dug outside the parkade itself, but I don't think its the stairwell as thats whats in that concrete bunker like building just beside there is. The other stairwell on the west side of the platform is ready to go for the opening, glass is all in and it looks pretty good.

[srperrycgy]

Here is a clip taken from the bus' Drive Cam of the two morons who decided to steal a CT bus yesterday:

http://newsroom.calgary.ca/pr/calgary/electronic.aspx?fid=102698&id=18036

[You Need A Thneed]

The tender is out for the Whitehorn Station upgrade project. It looks like it will include a ramp down to Whitehorn Drive from the south end of the platform.

The station will remain in service (other then a few weekends) for the duration of construction. The precast platform is going to replaced the labour day weekend.

Completion date is April 2011.

[DarkKeyo]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

The tender is out for the Whitehorn Station upgrade project. It looks like it will include a ramp down to Whitehorn Drive from the south end of the platform.

The station will remain in service (other then a few weekends) for the duration of construction. The precast platform is going to replaced the labour day weekend.

Completion date is April 2011.

So, if they're doing this much to renovate Whitehorn, I wonder if they will do the same to every other station on the NE line... and the South line stations which are 4 years older, and the NW line stations which are only 2 years newer. If the current condition of Whitehorn is bad enough to be worth spending money to fix it, then I think those other stations are as well. They're getting a bit worn down. All this said, they seem to be getting off to a slow start if they want to convert to 4-car trains by 2014.

And, Mersar, I wasn't assuming that the hole at 4th st had to do with the stairwell. I just worded that sentence very badly...

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by DarkKeyo

So, if they're doing this much to renovate Whitehorn, I wonder if they will do the same to every other station on the NE line... and the South line stations which are 4 years older, and the NW line stations which are only 2 years newer. If the current condition of Whitehorn is bad enough to be worth spending money to fix it, then I think those other stations are as well. They're getting a bit worn down. All this said, they seem to be getting off to a slow start if they want to convert to 4-car trains by 2014.

I think it was in the tender documents that this was sort of a trial run for the rest of the NE stations. Of course, Whitehorn will be getting the ramp to the south end of the platform, and not many of the other stations in the NE are capable of getting something like that, Rundle certainly isn't.

I doubt they are only going to be renoing one station per year after that. I imagine some of the south line stations might start to be extended later this year too. I can certainly see them pushing to be able to run four car trains on at least one line by the time the West line opens in 2012. Whitehorn will be done, Martindale and Saddletowne will be done, so there will only be 6 other stations on the whole NE-W line that haven't been extended, all of which can be extended fairly easily.

[MalcolmTucker]

any full line that can run 4 car trains would be good, but if it happens to be W-NE first it will annoyingly push up headways. But hey, that is life until the tunnel is done.

[mersar]

Reportedly the first of the new Series 8 SD160 LRV's has arrived in Calgary and is likely sitting over in CP's Alyth yard waiting to be be delievered to the unloading pad at Hayesboro.

[Stang]

Originally Posted by mersar

Reportedly the first of the new Series 8 SD160 LRV's has arrived in Calgary and is likely sitting over in CP's Alyth yard waiting to be be delievered to the unloading pad at Hayesboro.

The magical unloading of a new LRV is a feat that I would like to catch someday. Any further info on when this might happen? Does anyone know if these come in CT livery or is that done after arrival? I seem to recall a few "blanks" a few years ago, but I believe that was sometime just before the new red colours were introduced so they probably decided that it was better to wait for the new colours.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Stang

The magical unloading of a new LRV is a feat that I would like to catch someday. Any further info on when this might happen? Does anyone know if these come in CT livery or is that done after arrival? I seem to recall a few "blanks" a few years ago, but I believe that was sometime just before the new red colours were introduced so they probably decided that it was better to wait for the new colours.

CT has pretty much always (at least for the SD160's) done the livery in house. These ones will probably get it before they hit the rails in revenue service this fall, especially the first three which will probably be used as a backdrop for a press conference of some sort based on recent history (three of the last order were used as the background for one press conference, then I believe 3 of the first ones to get AC and the new roofline upgrade were used as one this past year). The reason for the delay in getting the new LRV's into service is due to the changes on them (new cab setup, more electronics, and possibly a new coupler that prevents them from being joined onto the existing fleet)

As for unloading, essentially its a fairly straight forward process. The LRV's are delievered to a siding in Hayesboro via CP's industrial run. The flatcar is usually just dropped off and then CT just uses the giant portable jacks they have to jack the LRV off the rail car, then pull the rail car out from under it, and lower the LRV onto the tracks. They then use a front end loader like tractor that has rail wheels on it to tow it from the CP siding through the cross over in the fence onto the CT tracks, then push/pull it south into the Anderson yard and into the shop there.

I'd expect unloading either on the weekend or during mid-day early next week. It all depends on when its scheduled on CP's industrial run, it may sit over in Alyth for a couple days. The original delivery date to CT was June 10th so its currently a few days ahead of schedule.

Edit: supposedly it was spotted at lunch on the industrial run, so its probably over by Hayesboro already

[Stang]

^ Thanks for the detailed response Mersar!