Calgary Public Transit II

[frinkprof]

Free wifi coming to City Hall, Chinook, University stations.

Free Wifi coming to nine locations including city parks, LRT stations


By Jason Markusoff, Calgary Herald December 19, 2013

[...]

Calgary-based Shaw Communications will provide Wi-Fi at city sites in exchange for getting rights to advertise its own services, likely on the Wi-Fi welcome page, a city technology manager said.

[...]

The exact launch date isn’t decided yet, but the first city Wi-Fi sites should launch in the first three months of 2014, said Heather Reed-Fenske innovation manager for the city’s information technology unit.

The city may also expand services yet in the future to LRTs themselves, she added.

[...]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/story.html?id=9305696

[DizzyEdge]

So does/will CT have the additional cars necessary to have 4 car trains once these platforms are done?

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

So does/will CT have the additional cars necessary to have 4 car trains once these platforms are done?

Once the new order of 60 LRVs is in, there will be enough to have about half of fulltime 4 car operation. That is, some operating consists will be 4 cars and some will be 3. I believe the plan is to push for as many 4 car trains as possible during rush hour and events and non peak times will see predominantly 3 car operation as is the case now.

The order of 60 will have 25 earmarked as replacements for part of the oldest set of cars (U2s), and 35 will be for 4 car operation. About 100 more cars are needed to gabber both full time 4 car operation and to replace all of the U2s.

Timewise, given the relative schedules of the train order and the completion of 4 car platforms, there may be a gap of as much as a year from capacity to actual operation. It will be sometime in 2015.

[TallisRH]

One of the series 8 train cars (the ones with the squishy sideways seats) has had flat bench seating installed as a trial.

[MalcolmTucker]

New York style!

[Design-mind]

Easy to wash down!

[DizzyEdge]

Mm nothing says comfort like hard plastic.

[YYCguys]

That looks comfortable! NOT!

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

That looks comfortable! NOT!

Trust me, this will work so much better than the sculpted seats in there now- they are terrible.

[Ferreth]

I would suggest drainage slots to keep people from spilling drinks and sending them down the whole length of the seat.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

That looks comfortable! NOT!

To be honest, I've never found the hard plastic seats on the Shanghai Metro to be any more uncomfortable than any other type of public transit seat I've sat on. They're really not that bad, IMO.

[CTrainDude]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

I would suggest drainage slots to keep people from spilling drinks and sending them down the whole length of the seat.

Drinks "etcetera"

[J-D]

#14

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgar...ing+vehicle+collision/9332000/story.html

[Allan83]

Further to Edm-Cgy HSR issue, here’s a bit more information on he maglev option for anyone who’s interested.

Australia is looking at the German maglev as well, and here’s a brief report dated Aug. 2013 on a couple of proposals there.
http://www.monorailsaustralia.com.au/Maglev.pdf

Here’s some general information on the technology from the manufacturer. Much of it is a duplicate of what’s in the above link, but there is some additional information as well.
http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/documents/transrapid/TRI_Flug_Hoehe_e_5_021.pdf

Here’s a PP presentation that may be of interest to people with a background in electricity and magnetism.
http://www.coilwindingexpo.com/berlin/files/_friedrich_loeser.pdf

And here’s a video clip on the one that’s been operating in Shanghai since 2004.
How the Shanghai Maglev Transrapid works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmsvzOV7iXM

http://www.maglev.net/abandoned-maglev-projects
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/hyperloop-and-high-speed-trains/
http://www.economist.com/news/technology...are-less-visible-and-spread-less-quickly

[srperrycgy]

Originally Posted by Allan83

Further to Edm-Cgy HSR issue, here’s a bit more information on he maglev option for anyone who’s interested.

That's great, but can we start a new thread to continue the HSR discussion please?

[Design-mind]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Timewise, given the relative schedules of the train order and the completion of 4 car platforms, there may be a gap of as much as a year from capacity to actual operation. It will be sometime in 2015.

Wow I was way off. I thought that this was going to be up and going fall 2014. What platforms still need revamping?

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by Design-mind

Wow I was way off. I thought that this was going to be up and going fall 2014. What platforms still need revamping?

I think fall 2014 is still roughly correct for the platforms to be ready; getting the extra trains is the delay. Remaining platforms are:
SC: 39 Ave
NW: Banff Trail, SAIT
NE: Franklin (in process), Barlow/Max Bell, Zoo, Bridgeland

I would assume SAIT is going to be done in the summer, due to students. Banff Trail I would guess might be done outside the football season, although the work there is pretty minimal so perhaps not. The last timeline on the city's website has the Zoo station being closed during the August long weekend, which I'm sure zoo administration is just thrilled about. With that kind of scheduling, look for Banff Trail to be closed during the September long weekend.

In principle, 4 car trains could be run on one line only - the red line (NW/SC) is closer to completion and has higher demand. But in practice, there are no trains to run. I'd heard a while back that there was some tinkering with maintenance schedules that could leave CT with enough trains to start running 4-car before the new vehicles, but I haven't heard much since.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

I think fall 2014 is still roughly correct for the platforms to be ready; getting the extra trains is the delay. Remaining platforms are:
SC: 39 Ave
NW: Banff Trail, SAIT
NE: Franklin (in process), Barlow/Max Bell, Zoo, Bridgeland

I would assume SAIT is going to be done in the summer, due to students. Banff Trail I would guess might be done outside the football season, although the work there is pretty minimal so perhaps not. The last timeline on the city's website has the Zoo station being closed during the August long weekend, which I'm sure zoo administration is just thrilled about. With that kind of scheduling, look for Banff Trail to be closed during the September long weekend.

In principle, 4 car trains could be run on one line only - the red line (NW/SC) is closer to completion and has higher demand. But in practice, there are no trains to run. I'd heard a while back that there was some tinkering with maintenance schedules that could leave CT with enough trains to start running 4-car before the new vehicles, but I haven't heard much since.

I was sure I had heard that the blue line would be the first to be 4 car capable with the West portion being built to 4 cars, did they move the red line up?

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Full Mountain

I was sure I had heard that the blue line would be the first to be 4 car capable with the West portion being built to 4 cars, did they move the red line up?

Things keep getting shuffled. That said the remaining NE platform extensions are simpler then the S/NW ones so you never know. The NE schedule is here

[VIce]

Originally Posted by Full Mountain

I was sure I had heard that the blue line would be the first to be 4 car capable with the West portion being built to 4 cars, did they move the red line up?

The Blue line doesn't need more capacity. By CT's own numbers, ridership breakdown by leg is as follows:
South - 110,300
Northwest - 79,500
Northeast - 64,000
West - TBA (35,000 est.)
Downtown (free fare zone) - 22,800

Right now the whole driver towards 4-car trains is the southern leg of the Red line. Even if the Blue line is ready first, the Red line needs the PPHPD.