whattheheck said:
Maybe, and hear me out now, the weather related delays are not the fault of TransEd, but instead the result of a bad move by city hall in choosing a low floor slow moving tram for mass transit operations in a city with severe winter weather conditions.

The high floor system does not see such issues. The trains move faster, the momentum which then pushes the snow out of the way. A slow floor system does not have that momentum.

And don't go 'but but but in Europe they have low floor'. Sorry, no comparison. We endure cold CANADIAN prairie conditions. Our winters are distinctly different from northern Europe. (Of course most of the city boosters on this forum will roll your eyes at my comment. But, I am right.)
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If you wanted a more fair comparison they have an extensive tram system in Moscow, but I don't know anything about their routing or operations. Would be worth digging into to see what they do differently though.
 
whattheheck said:
Maybe, and hear me out now, the weather related delays are not the fault of TransEd, but instead the result of a bad move by city hall in choosing a low floor slow moving tram for mass transit operations in a city with severe winter weather conditions.

The high floor system does not see such issues. The trains move faster, the momentum which then pushes the snow out of the way. A slow floor system does not have that momentum.

And don't go 'but but but in Europe they have low floor'. Sorry, no comparison. We endure cold CANADIAN prairie conditions. Our winters are distinctly different from northern Europe. (Of course most of the city boosters on this forum will roll your eyes at my comment. But, I am right.)
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I think its more likely that the high-floor system, which has been in operation for 48 years, has all the bugs worked out already vs the low floor which has been only operating for 2 years.
 
whattheheck said:
Maybe, and hear me out now, the weather related delays are not the fault of TransEd, but instead the result of a bad move by city hall in choosing a low floor slow moving tram for mass transit operations in a city with severe winter weather conditions.
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If this is in response to the post regarding TransEd's future of operating the VLSE, it's worth noting I don't think any decision like that would suddenly occur during the middle of the Christmas break after one significant incident. They're probably not related.
If this is just a comment in general, I partially agree, but I see it as being partially the City's fault for specing embedded track, and what might amount to restriction on efficient snow removal. We don't know if TransEd had chosen the best track materials they could have possibly selected (better costs more $$$$, and so less profit presumably) of if they had an adequate Winter Weather Strategy and if they followed it.
whattheheck said:
The high floor system does not see such issues. The trains move faster, the momentum which then pushes the snow out of the way. A slow floor system does not have that momentum.

And don't go 'but but but in Europe they have low floor'. Sorry, no comparison. We endure cold CANADIAN prairie conditions. Our winters are distinctly different from northern Europe. (Of course most of the city boosters on this forum will roll your eyes at my comment. But, I am right.)
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I remember how the U2's couldn't handle soft powdery snow and so ETS had to run trains at reduced speeds when that powdery snow was present and being kicked up by the trains momentum, and then sucked inside the cars and shorting out the traction motors.
Anyways...
The VLSE certainly does see high enough speeds that snow gets kicked up by it's momentum. The cars also have a plow-like design on the coupler cover to knock down and defect snow.
Looking at the weather history leading up to the issues on December 27 and 28th, 4.2mm of precipitation fell on the 26th starting at 15:00. Another 2.5mm fell on the 27th ending at 8:00. Environment Canada measured a snow depth change of 15cm from the 26 to the 27th. I assume this is only checked once per day, and likely after 8:00, and before 15:00. I'm less worried about the snow that fell on the 26th, which would have been about 9.4cm as trains passing would have kept that down. I don't see however that the snow that fell overnight of 5.6cm would have been enough by itself to prevent train operations. Indeed, for the periods that trains were not running (roughly 130AM until 5AM) there would have only been about 4cm of snow accumulated.

Although I didn't get out to the the VLSE until yesterday afternoon, I was surprised how much snow was still around. I honestly thought that with upwards of 2 days on portions of the line with no trains that the trackway would have been significantly cleared.
 
Yegpeople said:
There is no other option city is locked in 30 year operating agreement with transed and also city is negotiating west line operations with them now
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There absolutely is a way out. It's very well detailed in the Project Agreement, Schedule 27.
While I have no idea what is happen or not happening with TransEd being a candidate to run the VLW, I will say this:
Alstom had the opportunity to negotiate a sole source contract for VLW LRV's. Well, we're getting Rotem LRV's now so clearly that negotiation didn't go well.

In support of TransEd, I will note that DBRS Morningstar upgraded their credit rating and in particular had good things to say about their FME which includes their service performance metrics, achieving over 99% of their final monthly entitlement. I'm sure their FME is going to take a beating in December however.
dbrs.morningstar.com

Home | Morningstar DBRS

Morningstar DBRS is the world's fourth largest credit ratings agency and a market leader in Canada, the U.S. and Europe in multiple asset classes.
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All of the steel should be up on both stations by the end of Q1, glass installation and decking to follow.
 
So by the looks of it the station platforms will be two separate platforms instead of one main platform in the middle. I wonder if they're going to be putting some sort of fencing between the tracks to stop people from Crossing from one platform to the other over the tracks.
 
This article was posted in the Metro Line thread but has lots of good info regarding VL.

City of Edmonton Valley Line West director Brian Latte said the project was on budget and on schedule as of the end of 2025.

“We’re very pleased with how this year went,” he said. “All of the intersections they have to shut down in order to run the tracks through were done on time. They had a lot of work to do along 104 Avenue.

“They were able to get a lot of the really difficult work done in one big shot. They got more work done this year than they’ve had in any other year.”

All that’s left on the Downtown front is 102 Avenue where the train turns towards MacEwan University. Latte said work on 103 Street to 107 Street will be prioritized in 2026. Cox added construction on the roads closer to West Edmonton Mall are still being planned out, so drivers on that side of the city should expect to adjust their commutes accordingly. He said intersections at 170 Street and 178 Street should expect delays this coming summer. Cox said the goal is to have all the track connected by the end of 2026.

With a tentative finishing date of 2029, Latte cautioned once the track is all laid out, testing the system could be the longest stretch.

He noted motorists will see trains moving on the tracks before the city begins allowing passengers on them.

“By this time next year, the contractor wants to have all of the track in all the way from downtown to the end of the line,” said Latte. “Together with that they’ll be putting in the power lines that run the LRT, they’ll be putting in the permeant traffic signals at all the intersections. They’ve got to run many, many tests of the line to make sure it works properly and reliably. We don’t want the train to stop running with passengers on it.

“We don’t know how long that can take. Sometimes that’s the most tricky part of getting a line up and running. So they’ll start that in 2028 with the hope we can get people riding it in 2029, but you can’t hold me to those dates. It’s all tentative depending on how all the testing and commissioning goes. You’ve got to have the system run a minimum number of times over a minimum number of weeks before you open the door to passengers.
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I get the VLW Director is being extra careful with his statements with no guarantees, but it sounds like their actual timelines are:
  • 2026: all track laid
  • 2027: wrapping up outstanding construction items and starting commissioning work
  • 2028: more commissioning + testing
  • 2029: open for public use
Which makes his statement that the project is "on-schedule" kind of ironic. Is the project really on schedule when you've adjusted the project schedule (including finish date) like four times now?
 
northlands said:
This article was posted in the Metro Line thread but has lots of good info regarding VL.



I get the VLW Director is being extra careful with his statements with no guarantees, but it sounds like their actual timelines are:
  • 2026: all track laid
  • 2027: wrapping up outstanding construction items and starting commissioning work
  • 2028: more commissioning + testing
  • 2029: open for public use
Which makes his statement that the project is "on-schedule" kind of ironic. Is the project really on schedule when you've adjusted the project schedule (including finish date) like four times now?
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I feel the city bureaucrats, having been burned by past missed deadlines, are trying to manage expectations here by extending the schedule so in 2028 they can claim it is completed "ahead of time". Oh the games they play.
 
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