Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Norman Bates

"...and have started assembling the diamond crossover at Parliament Station."

First I hear of a diamond in the system.

It says a "diamond crossover".

From Wikipedia:

A crossover is a pair of switches that connects two parallel rail tracks, allowing a train on one track to cross over to the other. Like the switches themselves, crossovers can be described as either facing or trailing.

When two crossovers are present in opposite directions, one after the other, the four-switch configuration is called a double crossover. If the crossovers in different directions overlap to form an ×, it is dubbed a scissors crossover, scissors crossing, or just scissors; or, due to the diamond in the center, a diamond crossover. This makes for a very compact track layout at the expense of using a level junction.

I'm guessing that since the track starts to curve east of Parliament station, they needed to make the crossover as compact as possible, thus the use of a diamond crossover. Most other locations will likely use conventional double crossovers (which are stacked end to end instead of overlapping).

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Now, lets say a developer wants to build on adjacent land, this deck would make good parking or a nice entrance way to one of those future buildings, then it might happen. It would be paid for by the developer.

Exactly. Tunnies Pasture is a likely candidate for that. They could possibly even put the buildings partially on top of the track There is no need for the city to cap the track themselves, but for a developer, it could be worth while as it gives them more land to work with. The RendezVous LeBreton Group plan to deck over the line between Pimisi and Bayview.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

When you view the Construction Reports in Chrome, click the "Open full screen" option, then when you right-click on each image, you'll choose "Copy link address".

I tried that. It copies the link for the construction update page and not the actual picture.

[eltodesukane]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Seems to me the sound wall would be more useful on the other side of the train tracks.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Seems to me the sound wall would be more useful on the other side of the train tracks.

VIA approached the city about doing that, but some of the residents opposed the idea. Not sure if they didn't want it that close to their property or if they liked watching the trains go by.

If VIA can get money for upgrades and electrification, the trains will be much quieter.

Here is an interesting video showing German ICE trains passing at different speeds. They seem quieter at the higher speeds, possibly because they aren't accelerating.

• Video Link

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by roger1818

It says a "diamond crossover".

From Wikipedia:



I'm guessing that since the track starts to curve east of Parliament station, they needed to make the crossover as compact as possible, thus the use of a diamond crossover. Most other locations will likely use conventional double crossovers (which are stacked end to end instead of overlapping).

Good Day....

indeed... diamond crossovers are generally reserved for limited space locations..... there is to be one just east of Tunney's Pasture station (under the tent) as well - same reason - tight quarters, operational flexibility. The Tunney's will also be used for the change of direction at terminus purpose until the western expansion occurs, since they seem adverse to using the Montreal Metro model of tail track switching for dedicated platform directionality. The Blair station uses two sequential switches just to the west of the station for this, since it has more linear space available. As well, diamonds have the added problem of a larger gap in the center diamond frog, causing more impact fracture damage to the wheels than regular one switch frogs, even when going very slowly. Hence it is that the Parliament diamond is only for emergency use flexibility, and the Tunney's diamond will only be used regularly until the Western expansion comes online. I do not know where the other switches and crossovers are located (except of course for Belfast MSF access and yard) since we do not have the plans. Maybe we can all contribute to a RoW survey to add them up ?

EnJoy!

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Seems to me the sound wall would be more useful on the other side of the train tracks.

Yup. I think this wall will even make things worse by reflecting the sound of the noisier VIA trains back towards the houses!

[J.OT13]

Here are a few from OC's twitter;

[mykl]

Took a photo of progress at Rideau Station entrance / future Scotiabank. Link because photos never work for me here.



https://imgur.com/3MzmuO9

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by mykl

Took a photo of progress at Rideau Station entrance / future Scotiabank. Link because photos never work for me here.



https://imgur.com/3MzmuO9

On imgur, add ".jpg" to the address to create the direct link to the jpg. In the case of your image above the actual URL is https://i.imgur.com/3MzmuO9.jpg

using that in IMG posting results in this (I'll leave resizing tips for someone else to answer) :

[613Steve]

Some pictures of the LRT at uOttawa Station this morning

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKQYb6oVYAAlz5k.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKQYb7YVoAY9fwG.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKQYb5LUIAA9Avk.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKQYb5iUEAAf25p.jpg

[J.OT13]

Here ya go.






Nice to see the train finally reaching uOttawa.

[kevinbottawa]

Steel is going up an Tunney's Pasture station.

[613Steve]

Thanks for the proper formatting! I'm new to this

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Nice to see the train finally reaching uOttawa.

I was in Ottawa earlier this week for the first time since May (spent the whole summer out of the country) and I toured around the Confederation Line route.. they certainly got a lot done in the past 3 months! The entire track from Blair right up to the east tunnel portal looks basically done--tracks laid, wires put up, signals in, the whole shebang--and the fact that trains drove all the way up to uOttawa basically confirms what I saw.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I was in Ottawa earlier this week for the first time since May (spent the whole summer out of the country) and I toured around the Confederation Line route.. they certainly got a lot done in the past 3 months! The entire track from Blair right up to the east tunnel portal looks basically done--tracks laid, wires put up, signals in, the whole shebang--and the fact that trains drove all the way up to uOttawa basically confirms what I saw.

Yeah, I'm not sure why people are freaking out about the 2018 timeline. Construction is moving at a rather fast clip. Almost every weekend I'm at or near one of the station sites, and the progress at most of them, even in a span of a few days, is often startling.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Yeah, I'm not sure why people are freaking out about the 2018 timeline. Construction is moving at a rather fast clip. Almost every weekend I'm at or near one of the station sites, and the progress at most of them, even in a span of a few days, is often startling.

Agreed. It is the digging of the tunnel that was the slow part. While they were doing that, they plugged away at the other bits as there was no real rush (they wanted to get some trains running to do some early testing, but that is all they needed). Now that the digging is pretty much done, they can pick up the pace on everything else.

[harls]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

Steel is going up an Tunney's Pasture station.

Yeah!

[Hybrid247]

Hurdman is coming along nicely


https://twitter.com/JimWatsonOttawa/status/911272023627911169

[kevinbottawa]

I think Hurdman is the most impressive station on the whole line.