Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[ponyboycurtis]

The stretch between Lees and Hurdman is almost a crawl these days. St. Laurent to Cyrville as well, which is odd as the track curve there seems pretty gradual.

I would imagine until they can get a handle on these axel and wheel profile issues the slower speeds will remain. It sucks but I'll take the lower speeds over routine failures.

[J.OT13]

Ridership on the O-Train last Thursday was 78k, the highest since the pandemic.

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Ridership on the O-Train last Thursday was 78k, the highest since the pandemic.

I'll tell you that between Hurdman and Rideau things are very busy with school starting up so that doesn't surprise me. Even South Keys and Greenboro station are noticeably busier.

As much as I enjoyed a train car to myself and never having to stand, it's nice to see the system being used.

[Fading Isle]

Blair has also been much busier, largely because the buses that feed into Blair have been very full. Oddly, it seems like the morning trains going downtown from Tunneys Pasture are much less busy than those coming from the East. I'm not quite sure why.

[OTownandDown]

People aren't willing to put up with such a long and tiring commute from Kanata? Service seems to have been completely downgraded from the glory days of direct express busses from individual neighbourhoods. Changed to collector milk runs, followed by transfer to regular transitway routes followed by a 500m walk to the train platform at tunney's followed by a rush up escalators to get to the office is not appealing.

Can be confirmed by the massive queues on the highway every morning.

(I don't actually perform this grueling commute, I'm just a casual observer)

We won't see ridership return until 20 years from now when the train actually runs thru Kanata.

Originally Posted by Fading Isle

Blair has also been much busier, largely because the buses that feed into Blair have been very full. Oddly, it seems like the morning trains going downtown from Tunneys Pasture are much less busy than those coming from the East. I'm not quite sure why.

[Fading Isle]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Can be confirmed by the massive queues on the highway every morning.

(I don't actually perform this grueling commute, I'm just a casual observer

I've also been seeing massive amounts of traffic on the highway coming from the east. Traffic has been at a complete stand-still whenever I've gone by on the bus/train, whereas previously it's moved along fine even at rush hour.

Another positive to get people using the transit system we have is watching a bus or a train fly by you while you've been stuck in traffic for half an hour. In Toronto where the subway runs along Allen Road/Expressway (and the subway really flies here) they have giant signs pointing out that people who are stuck in traffic should have taken the TTC.

[Harley613]

[ponyboycurtis]

I uploaded my first ever YouTube video for this! Rainwater pouring through the ceiling at St. Laurant station. I know this was an occurrence last week via Reddit but yesterday I got to see it with my own eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FPkO_dQL_zY

The train was also running particularly rough yesterday. It was doing that thing were it shudders to a stop. I've seen it before.. sometimes worse than others.. sometimes smooth ish with only one jerk. But yesterday was something else it was jerking and bucking 6 or 7 times before coming to a stop.

I've also noticed for a while now the train doesn't come close to the stickers on the platforms. The center of the door is now aligned with the far edge of the sticker. AKA.. the train is over shooting its stopping point by about 3/4 feet with regularity.



On a positive note I noticed this signage at the corner of Sussex and Rideau. I've seen it before but it never really registered as yesterday I was taking shelter from the rain and just standing around. This is a nice QoL piece that is lacking throughout our transit system. You can disembark the train and decide for yourself if you have time to use the washroom or maybe grab a cup of coffee.

[harls]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

I uploaded my first ever YouTube video for this! Rainwater pouring through the ceiling at St. Laurant station. I know this was an occurrence last week via Reddit but yesterday I got to see it with my own eyes.

Yeah, that looks like a tiny problem.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

I uploaded my first ever YouTube video for this! Rainwater pouring through the ceiling at St. Laurant station. I know this was an occurrence last week via Reddit but yesterday I got to see it with my own eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FPkO_dQL_zY

The water is not new, but it's hit the news recently. The expansion joints in the structure aren't water tight, so it leaks through from above when it rains. They installed the metal troughs below when the train was built to direct the water to fall between the tracks. It's not a case of lack of maintenance, this is the way it was designed to function.

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by Catenary

The water is not new, but it's hit the news recently. The expansion joints in the structure aren't water tight, so it leaks through from above when it rains. They installed the metal troughs below when the train was built to direct the water to fall between the tracks. It's not a case of lack of maintenance, this is the way it was designed to function.

Seems to be news in the last week? First time I've heard it pouring onto the tracks as of last week.

Also.. per another conversation about trains running slower. Heading westbound from St.Laurant yesterday. Between STL and Hurdman, the average train speed was 25 km/h including the stop at Tremblay. The highest speed we hit was 33 and the lowest was 22 aside from embark/disembark. I didn't bother to use my app heading east of STL later in the day but it felt the same until moving past Cryville.

Also.,.. geez I'm starting to dislike how every conversation about this train has numerous footnotes....



This is at Lees, there is also a broken pane at Hurdman. Northwest corner of the plat at the top of the stairs.... and.. i forget but there is another broken pane with safety tape somewhere else on the line. This is all recent, I want to say no more than a month. Oddly enough the two latter mentions have the glass panes cracked.. as opposed to shattered safety glass like this photo.

Vandalism?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

I uploaded my first ever YouTube video for this! Rainwater pouring through the ceiling at St. Laurant station. I know this was an occurrence last week via Reddit but yesterday I got to see it with my own eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FPkO_dQL_zY

The train was also running particularly rough yesterday. It was doing that thing were it shudders to a stop. I've seen it before.. sometimes worse than others.. sometimes smooth ish with only one jerk. But yesterday was something else it was jerking and bucking 6 or 7 times before coming to a stop.

I've also noticed for a while now the train doesn't come close to the stickers on the platforms. The center of the door is now aligned with the far edge of the sticker. AKA.. the train is over shooting its stopping point by about 3/4 feet with regularity.



On a positive note I noticed this signage at the corner of Sussex and Rideau. I've seen it before but it never really registered as yesterday I was taking shelter from the rain and just standing around. This is a nice QoL piece that is lacking throughout our transit system. You can disembark the train and decide for yourself if you have time to use the washroom or maybe grab a cup of coffee.

Look at that super frequent bus service.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Look at that super frequent bus service.

Ya but they are all articulated and double decker buses so they have the same capacity as 15 minute service. 😜

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Ya but they are all articulated and double decker buses so they have the same capacity as 15 minute service. 😜

As long as you have place to stand on the bus. It doesn't matter if your trip time extends to an hour or longer and more of your time is waiting for a bus than riding on one.

Doesn't this remind you of declining American transit systems? Lousy frequencies.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

Seems to be news in the last week? First time I've heard it pouring onto the tracks as of last week.

Also.. per another conversation about trains running slower. Heading westbound from St.Laurant yesterday. Between STL and Hurdman, the average train speed was 25 km/h including the stop at Tremblay. The highest speed we hit was 33 and the lowest was 22 aside from embark/disembark. I didn't bother to use my app heading east of STL later in the day but it felt the same until moving past Cryville.

Also.,.. geez I'm starting to dislike how every conversation about this train has numerous footnotes....

This is at Lees, there is also a broken pane at Hurdman. Northwest corner of the plat at the top of the stairs.... and.. i forget but there is another broken pane with safety tape somewhere else on the line. This is all recent, I want to say no more than a month. Oddly enough the two latter mentions have the glass panes cracked.. as opposed to shattered safety glass like this photo.

Vandalism?

There's been a broken pane of glass at Blair on the upper level since at least May as well. Heck, probably all the stations have broken glass.

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Look at that super frequent bus service.

And these are downtown buses going through the densest urban areas of the City. These are the same frequencies as Fallingbrook routes with a fraction of the ridership.

[lrt's friend]

I did a very nice walk along the Rideau River between the Adawe Bridge and the old Hurdman railway bridge this afternoon and ended up at the Confed Line S curve between Tremblay and Hurdman stations.

I am alarmed with how slow the trains are taking this curve. I know. I know. Safety.

But what has happened? Has there been a serious design error that the trains have to run this slowly? This corridor used to be part of the eastern Transitway, and buses could easily make this curve at a faster speed.

Why have we invested billions for a system that clearly operates less efficiently than the previous busway?

Is there a solution to this slow train problem? Or has the right of way been just poorly planned all along?

[J.OT13]

The most recent theory seems to be that until they inspected and repaired all of the trains wheel assembly (or bearing assembly, not too sure), the slow movement order will remain.

That said, Hurdman is a permanent maintenance and operational problem. Unless we rebuild the curve and station, we're stuck with this major design flaw. Maybe in 27 years once the contract with RTM is done, we can consider rebuilding. Hopefully by then, we'll have bypass options like Carling, Baseline and maybe QED.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The most recent theory seems to be that until they inspected and repaired all of the trains wheel assembly (or bearing assembly, not too sure), the slow movement order will remain.

That said, Hurdman is a permanent maintenance and operational problem. Unless we rebuild the curve and station, we're stuck with this major design flaw. Maybe in 27 years once the contract with RTM is done, we can consider rebuilding. Hopefully by then, we'll have bypass options like Carling, Baseline and maybe QED.

Are there any real bypass options for that S curve? The three that you listed won't go beyond Hurdman. I always wanted something going through the Hospital corridor but we threw that out years ago. Then the city talked about the Trainyards route, but that hasn't been spoken about in years. Another plan for the trash heap.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Are there any real bypass options for that S curve? The three that you listed won't go beyond Hurdman. I always wanted something going through the Hospital corridor but we threw that out years ago.

Baseline routes could go to Hurdman via the SE Transitway. Seems urban Eastenders would be SOL though, because nothing is planned anywhere in that part of town. They would all need to transfer at Hurdman, take the SE Transitway/Baseline and transfer on the other side at Walkley or Algonquin.

The Hospital link would have been a decent alternative, I agree. The hospital link built for cars is seldom used in my experience and should probably be given to OC Transpo instead, especially if we're cancelling the connection to Nicholas, which was the whole point.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The most recent theory seems to be that until they inspected and repaired all of the trains wheel assembly (or bearing assembly, not too sure), the slow movement order will remain.

They're waiting until they can determine a true root cause to the axle assembly failures before deciding how to proceed.

That said, Hurdman is a permanent maintenance and operational problem. Unless we rebuild the curve and station, we're stuck with this major design flaw. Maybe in 27 years once the contract with RTM is done, we can consider rebuilding. Hopefully by then, we'll have bypass options like Carling, Baseline and maybe QED.

I still think this mischaracterizes the issue.

The Hurdman curves are a maintenance inconvenience, not a design flaw. The design flaw is in the rail-wheel interface, which is exacerbated by having tight-ish curves.

These are literally streetcars, remember?