Bombarier LFLRV At Waterloo Town Square by KatesFriend
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Description
As promised, the to-scale model of the light rail vehicles (LRVs) purchased by Waterloo Region for their iON light rail transit (LRT) project. I should point out that transit in Kitchener-Waterloo (KW) and surrounding municipalities is actually managed by Waterloo Region and not local cities - not since 2001 anyways. But KW is the densest population centre in the region with two universities and much of the region's traffic and commerce. Hence the first phase of iON development is to be in the twin cities. The display is a one-third section of a real 'Flexity Freedom' LFLRV (Low Floor Light Rail Vehicle) made by Bombarier in Thunder Bay, Ontario. So imagine this model three times longer (about 10% wider) with five segments. It is estimated that one LFLRV could carry two-and-a-half to three times the passengers of one bus. Then consider that LRVs can be coupled together as a train to triple the capacity of a single car. Something buses definitely can not do. The potential is an order of magnitude greater than the best bus service could provide. Waterloo Region is purchasing fourteen (14) of these LRVs to begin with. Though the vehicle livery is likely to be blue as depicted in the street advertisements and not green as seen in this shot. I did mention that Kitchener-Waterloo once had a small streetcar network. This was abandoned shortly after the Second World War in favour of diesel and electric trolley buses - the electric buses were then abandoned in 1973. I've always believed such decisions were wrong headed; but for the future of the iON in KW it has the advantage of abandoning the legacy track standards. Toronto's century old network has notoriously tight curves - as short as 11m - leading to slow and noisy (squeaky) turns even with modern LRVs. This would have certainly been true of KW had the streetcars survived there. But the new system will have a minimum curve radius of 25m. Coupled with the 'flexi' segmented design of the cars, turns should be smoother, faster and quieter than experienced in Toronto. As an aside, I've read comments on YouTube suggesting that Toronto's new low floor streetcars - a similar 'flexi' design to Waterloo's LFLRVs - are quieter on curves than their CLRV predecessors. We'll see if this bears out - I've yet to encounter one of the new TTC streetcars in operation first hand. That will change soon as they will go into service in Toronto on the Spadina Line (Route 510) by the end of August. And again, thank you for taking the time to visit my gallery and comment if you so desire. Cheers!
Comments (11)
drifterlee
really cool!!!!
tetrasnake
Most excellent capture! Well done!
eekdog
i like that way of travel, cool pic, Clayton..
giulband
Very well taken !!
johndoop
Beautiful picture And info!!!!!!!!!
sandra46
GREAT SHOT AND INFO
flavia49
very nice
magnus073
This is a very cool presentation Clayton, and as always I enjoyed the detailed background info.
Faemike55
Congrats on getting the new system - I just wish the people in my neck of the woods would see what is happening in the realm of mass transit Looks cool
Deane
Just been carrying out some work for Bombardier Transportation on this and various rail projects. Hope to see some of my components incorporated onboard in the near future :) Excellent work!
Cyve
Very great image... Fantastically well captured !