ION LRT still on track for December launch

Your wish to ride an ION LRT train by Christmas still looks to be the plan.

Regional Council got the latest update on how things are going, in what turned out to be a rather brief meeting Wednesday night.

“We don't have a lot of wiggle room in this schedule,” says Regional Councillor Tom Galloway, “But at least it's moving forward, more or less, on schedule.”

Still expecting a December launch, Galloway says Bombardier, GrandLinq and staff are making good progress on things such as the installation of specialized equipment.

The first one with the GrandLinq equipment fully installed left Kingston on September 17, and will be in the region by the end of this week or early next week.

It will be used by GrandLinq to continue testing the integration of the tracks and control systems with the train.

It will also mark the ninth train to be sent to Waterloo Region.

Galloway says five of the ones in the region are being used for testing and training purposes, but are not fully equipped yet.

He says that process should start once the other three here locally have equipment installed — by the end of the month or into October.

The five still in Kingston are still having on-board equipment installed too, but no finish date was provided.

“We have two locations where this equipment is being installed, and that's expediting that process,” Galloway says.

Two of the Kingston trains are also being used for multi-vehicle testing.

Galloway adds they aren't too worried about the Kingston trains at the moment.

“We have enough trains here to test,” he said.

Meanwhile, if you wanted to see the inside of an ION LRT train, they are appearing at events already — including one at the University of Waterloo Wednesday afternoon — and that will continue through the fall.

It's also a chance to ask ION staff about safety and service information, as well as anything else ION LRT-related that comes to mind.

The next event will be for K-W Oktoberfest, as a train will be on display October 4 at the Waterloo Public Square station.

Another train is expected to be at the University of Waterloo station for convocation on October 26.

“It's kind of a two-fold purpose (to have the trains at events),” Galloway explains, “We're trying to drive ridership.  We already have the ridership we believe we're going to need to start off the service with the people on the bus that are going to convert over to the train for the routes that are being eliminated.”

“But it's also for people to get used to the vehicle.  It's length and it's size, so that when they are bicycling, walking or driving in its proximity, they get a sense of it's size and consider the safety factors associated with having it in mixed traffic.”