WestLRT Construction Transgression thread

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

201 and 202? People will still get it mixed up. Unless you do it the New York way and put a big

A

on the front of the train.

I personally would like the lines named after something simple like University, Chinook, Zoo, Westbrook etc. Everyone in the city knows where those places are and in what direction they go.

You could also name them after the cities in either direction, like Banff, Cochrane, Airdrie, Lethbridge etc.

I agree the 201 202 numbers wouldnt work but there has to be something better than 69 Street for the west line.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I personally would like the lines named after something simple like University, Chinook, Zoo, Westbrook etc. Everyone in the city knows where those places are and in what direction they go.

You could also name them after the cities in either direction, like Banff, Cochrane, Airdrie, Lethbridge etc.

I look forward to scores of Asian tourists joining me confusingly on the Banff train.

Or, how about labeling the trains after where they are going, like, maybe call the NW train "Crowfoot"?
Obviously calling the train anything is going to be figured out by 99% of the daily riders within a day, but we've got to think of tourists and those that don't ride everyday and don't know the system.

[Jimmy Stang]

The city seems to be starting to introduce Red and Blue on new maps, etc. to describe the lines. I wouldn't be surprised if these gradually replace 201 and 202, which will be an improvement.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Flacker

I would suggest riding the NW/SE line sometime during rush hour and you will understand why the volume of trains is higher. It is fully justified.

Screw ridership, I just want a ton right at launch!! Doesn't show selfishness at all.

According to the data on Calgary Transit's website, the South branch of the red line has a average weekday ridership of 110,300 while the North branch of the blue line draws 64,000. As this is just over half, the red line should have a ratio of 2:1.

However, as Ozy said the wait was 15 minutes and the peak-frequency on the blue line is 4-7 minutes I'm going to assume there was a delay at that time yesterday.

[Muta]

They need to fix the digital signs on those downtown platforms. I waited around 7:45 PM yesterday at the 4th Avenue station, and all signs said CROWFOOT. It seemed like I was in for a 35-minute wait for a friggin' Westbound train. Hooray.

I waited 20 MINUTES, and the Crowfoot Train that was pulling in was actually a 69th Street train and the digital signs didn't even mark it until the train came to the platform. The only reason I knew was the digital sign on the front of the train.

Nevertheless, should I really be having to wait 20 MINUTES for a train on the new line at 7:45 PM? This wasn't 1:00 AM... I don't want to sound whiny, but, reallly... come on. People are still downtown at that time.

As for the parking at the old Science Centre, that's not a major parking lot, and shouldn't be considered one. It actually holds a fairly small amount of vehicles relative to other parking lots downtown.

As for people getting off at the 7th Street Station, well, they could be walking to their cars because on the downtown west end because they were on a Crowfoot Train because that's all that comes (lol). Also, that's the end of the free-fare zone, so I would assume several groups of people would get off at that station, purchase a fare and board the next train.

[Cowboy89]

Surprised to see no one complaining about how the Crowfoot-Somerset line now has to exclusively use the crappy old train cars during rush hour because of the west lrt. Seems somewhat useless to have the train cars that have an easier time fitting in more people on the less used line. Also the old cars will breakdown more often and do not have air conditioning in the summer. For a majority of C-Train riders, the west LRT actually means a worse riding experience.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Surprised to see no one complaining about how the Crowfoot-Somerset line now has to exclusively use the crappy old train cars during rush hour because of the west lrt. Seems somewhat useless to have the train cars that have an easier time fitting in more people on the less used line. Also the old cars will breakdown more often and do not have air conditioning in the summer. For a majority of C-Train riders, the west LRT actually means a worse riding experience.

Is this going to be the norm, or was the city just putting the newer cars on the West line for the opening day because of the new riders, media attention, etc.?

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Is this going to be the norm, or was the city just putting the newer cars on the West line for the opening day because of the new riders, media attention, etc.?

I forget where I heard it (It might be a previous post in this thread), but apparently the old trains have trouble navigating the elevation of the West line and thus only newer train cars are being used on that line. While on my train commute from the NW the past couple days I have yet to ride in or see a newer model train car on the NW-South line.

[worth]

Someone said the older cars can not get up the flyover.

Also, ins't there $113 million allocated for 50 new cars or something? I would think that some of these new cars would be replacing the older cars eventually.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by worth

Someone said the older cars can not get up the flyover.

Also, ins't there $113 million allocated for 50 new cars or something? I would think that some of these new cars would be replacing the older cars eventually.

They will be, but it won't be for a couple of years.

Also, if they can't get up the flyover, is the grade significantly less going up from Kensington station to Lions Park?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Also, if they can't get up the flyover, is the grade significantly less going up from Kensington station to Lions Park?

I think the difference there is the number of amps available for the trains. Hopefully Frinkprof chimes in soon, but I seem to recall that putting in the extra electical capacity for the flyover was going to cost a lot of extra dollars, and those dollars would be better spent on new cars.

[Ducay]

Im not sure if its *just* the flyover thats stopping it (but could be), the grade ~Crowchild and then again heading up 17th after Sarcee is pretty steep. I think the older cars were doing it during testing, but perhaps can't do it fully loaded.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

The city seems to be starting to introduce Red and Blue on new maps, etc. to describe the lines. I wouldn't be surprised if these gradually replace 201 and 202, which will be an improvement.

The re-branding of the lines as the Blue and Red lines will begin to intensify with the completion of the West LRT.

[GirlySports]

Will the trains and coloured blue and red as well!?

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by worth

Someone said the older cars can not get up the flyover.

Did anybody else just get a Railroad Tycoon flashback?

[NuclearPizzaMan]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

I forget where I heard it (It might be a previous post in this thread), but apparently the old trains have trouble navigating the elevation of the West line and thus only newer train cars are being used on that line. While on my train commute from the NW the past couple days I have yet to ride in or see a newer model train car on the NW-South line.

I hadn't heard this, but it sucks if true. I've been more than a little frustrated over the past five years with some of the decisions related to Calgary Transit, how they seem hell bent on expansion over fixing the reliability problems. Already over capacity on 7th ave over rush hour periods, we've spent our money expanding the reach of the current lines, and now we are adding more lines. Meanwhile, we scrap the $3 parking fee to encourage more usage (and reduce revenue), delay extension of the current stations (City hall was stupid late, and I refuse to believe that it takes 10 months for some of the simple stations to be completed). Finally, we've now trapped ourselves into using the dying u2's up until 2020, or even longer.

I'm not a fan of "expand now, fix later". I remember not too long ago, when the Ctrain could be considered reliable.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Will the trains and coloured blue and red as well!?

Aside from the U2s, CT will like to keep the ability to use trains on either line and branding them to a specific line would make this much harder.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by worth

Something I've often wondered is the buzzing that is very evident in the first video and during breaking in the second video. I'm sure someone know what this is. I always though it happened while braking bit it also seems like it is happening while the train is accelerating in the first video.

Originally Posted by frinkprof

^This is regenerative braking. Some of the energy that is created (which would otherwise be lost) while braking is fed back into the electrical system. In the first video, the operator is riding the brakes down the incline of Bow Trail eastbound.

I'm not sure if it is fed back into the grid or not. The traction motors do generate current during this (); on regular freight locomotives when they do dynamic (or regenerative) braking this energy is dissipated through very large resistor grids, which contain large fans to cool them. When you are watching the CP trains come down the hill near the Spiral Tunnels, the fans are primarily what you hear. Perhaps the new C-Trains have a system on board where batteries temporarily store the energy created through dynamic braking, similar to a KERS system.

[KelVarnsen]

It is pretty cool to see the trains running now. They look quite nice at night.

[DownInFlames]

I can see the platform going up to the Sunalta station from my living room. I agree it's cool to see the trains running.