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Edmonton LRT Expansion

reecemartin

By reecemartin
in Greater Edmonton Area

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  • 2 months later...
MCIBUS

MCIBUS

Posted
Posted

Though not "technically dealing with Edmonton's or Calgary's LRT. I'm just curious as how does the snow & cold effect the switching switches trains etc in the winter? How does Edmonton & Calgary Transit clear the tracks? The reason I ask what should we expect here in Ottawa when ever the LRT finally opens , what should we expect? I know the trains are different and where presently having issues with them even before they go into service and a few other isues.

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GrandeWest_B35G

GrandeWest_B35G

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1 hour ago, MCIBUS said:

Though not "technically dealing with Edmonton's or Calgary's LRT. I'm just curious as how does the snow & cold effect the switching switches trains etc in the winter? How does Edmonton & Calgary Transit clear the tracks? The reason I ask what should we expect here in Ottawa when ever the LRT finally opens , what should we expect? I know the trains are different and where presently having issues with them even before they go into service and a few other isues.

While I don't know about large drifts, it seems like the snow usually just gets gradually pushed away by the trains.

The switches are heated.

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GrandeWest_B35G

GrandeWest_B35G

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32 minutes ago, M. Parsons said:

Ummmmm..... you meant that they were cold air but said heated instead????

Oh, I thought they used forced air heating (source being the electrical boxes beside them).

This incorrect assumption was based on seeing liquid water on the ducts. I assumed that was because they were above 0°, but it was probably just a sunny day.

By the way, congrats on being the first person I've ever seen use "Ummmmm....." outside of instagram and r/teenagers

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M. Parsons

M. Parsons

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6 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Though not "technically dealing with Edmonton's or Calgary's LRT. I'm just curious as how does the snow & cold effect the switching switches trains etc in the winter? How does Edmonton & Calgary Transit clear the tracks? The reason I ask what should we expect here in Ottawa when ever the LRT finally opens , what should we expect? I know the trains are different and where presently having issues with them even before they go into service and a few other isues.

Edmonton has a history that has ramped up over time when it comes to snow and ice control on the LRT line.

For the most part the simple answer is there is no specific snow and ice control for the majority of the line.

Turnouts have switch blowers that help keep the switch points clear of snow. Originally the blowers installed at turnouts were hot air, however, in later years the heating portion was discontinued and newer units are just straight blowers.

In the early day of LRT, I suspect that the Kal Trac was equipped with a rotating boom, purely based off of text in Edmonton's Electric Transit, and would have been employed as needed. 

The majority of open track areas received no specific snow and ice control and simply trains passing help keep the tracks clear.

After a snowfall (and during for that matter) crews will attend to certain areas of the system with backpack blowers to completely remove some for all areas of a turnout (the cold air blowers mainly keep the switch points clear). In particular some of the more important turnouts/ crossovers at DLM/ Clareview, Century Park, NAIT, and Health Sciences. This would mainly be done if the LRT is still in operation for the day. If it's after service hours, then the MoW snow removal fleet hits the rails and takes care of the turnouts.

In addition to turnout clearing, crews used to manually do snow and ice control at grade crossings with hand equipment and backpack blowers. Usually at just some point when it was deemed necessary, and with flangeways that could be after a freeze/ thaw cycle.

As the system has expanded manual equipment no longer cuts it.

ETS has a fleet of 2 Typhoon snow blowers, one rebuilt in house. I'm not sure when 3860 arrived, but 3861 was rebuilt from a Union Pacific unit and it's arrival more or less coincided with the SLRT opening. During the daytime these machines will be used to clear the DLM yard trackage, and after the end of service they'll hit the rails and start clearing turnouts along the mainline. A lot simpler and quicker with 1 machine than a bunch of people with backpack blowers! They will also clear track which trains won't generally keep clear themselves, like the South Campus pocket track, E Track, Clareview tail track.

In addition to the 2 Typhoon's, ETS also has 2 RPM Tech Forced Air One blowers. These have a movable nozzle to direct the stream of air. These are hi-rail equipped, so, unlike a Typhoon with is entirely railborne, they can be positioned where needed and on track immediately after the last train, and clear just before the first train. I have seen 3591 clearing Century Park late at night, I've seen it clearing the ex CN (non-wired) trackage, and Clareview tailtrack. Once I saw it clearing the Coliseum switches from trackside. It had to move the boom out of the way for passing trains of course. I've never seen 3590 in use. I suspect these two get used more than I realize.

It is quite possible ETS does remove snow at stations in certain conditions, but, I've only ever seen it once.

For flangeway clearing ETS has a pair RPM Tech Cameleon flangeway cleaners. They have a main rotating boom plus smaller rotating brushes to get into flangeways. The concept actually came from an ETS employee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsA2huewV90
https://transformingedmonton.ca/inventor-sweeps-up-city-savings-of-700kyr/

As Edmonton's LRT went north to NAIT, they went with embedded track for a portion of the route. This, I think it's fair to say, has caused a lot of extra work for snow removal. The one time I watched snow removal late a night they had both Camelons out, plus a front end loader and skid steer to remove snow. 

Overall, snow has affected Edmonton very little. The biggest problems apparent to a rider were actually at the Century Park switches for a winter or two. The switch blowers just didn't seem to do a good job and there would be switch problems that would delay trains. The other problem with snow that affected trains was snow being sucked into the traction motors on the U2's which would then melt and cause problems. ETS would limit U2's to 50 km/h when there was a fine, powdery snow that could be kicked up by the train. This problem was eliminated when the U2's were refurbished.

Pics of some of the equipment: http://barp.ca/bus/alberta/ets/lrt/3000/indexa.html

I have a hell of a lot more but it's a work in progress.

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  • 4 weeks later...
MCIBUS

MCIBUS

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the info & pics. Though it will be be the Rideau Transit Group that will be taking care  of Stage 1 &  Stage 2 of the Confederation Line(30 year contract  I believe)another group will be taking care of Stage 2 Trim line(not sure of the groups name or how many years)at least I know  what to expect during winter. Now grant you I'm not sure what type of equipment RTG will be using that I don't know,but it'll be interesting to see when the do finally get the system up and running.

Again Thanks for the info & pics

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  • 3 years later...

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