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Post by Gokhan on Sept 2, 2014 16:43:15 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 3, 2014 10:12:36 GMT -8
Things as they stand where Phase 1 meets Phase 2. Hold on to your throttle for now.
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 4, 2014 9:25:57 GMT -8
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Post by tramfan on Sept 4, 2014 12:08:26 GMT -8
Yes, I passed by Bagley this morning as well and saw the poles up to the Venice bridge. At Military they paved the North side of the MSE ramp with asphalt while the South side was paved with concrete. They unloaded a stack of concrete ties and with the rail waiting between Military and Westwood we're only missing the gravel to connect Venice to Sepulveda Station.
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 7, 2014 14:02:18 GMT -8
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Post by joshuanickel on Sept 9, 2014 18:14:25 GMT -8
Upcoming closures on Westwood for Roadway Improvements:
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 12, 2014 22:44:41 GMT -8
OCS poles on Venice Blvd Bridge were installed today. Phase 1 - 2 tie-in of the OCS wires should be interesting. Meanwhile, there is a lot of green-fencing work taking place in Palms, especially along the freeway.
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 15, 2014 9:13:22 GMT -8
Venice Boulevard Bridge:
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Post by bzcat on Sept 15, 2014 9:41:31 GMT -8
I went to Hollywood Bowl last night for the Simpsons night. I made a point to go to the end of the platform at Culver City to see the rail joint for myself. My wife just rolled her eyes at me BTW, on the way back, we made it from 7th Street to Culver City in 26 minutes... my fastest ride ever.
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Post by tramfan on Sept 15, 2014 12:08:07 GMT -8
I live at the Military crossing and when I come home at night I always check out if there's any progress in the construction. From the kitchen my wife can see me walk around and when I enter my house I get the same "rolling eyes" treatment...
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 16, 2014 10:30:41 GMT -8
Phase 1 - 2 tie-in in early November nears, which will require closure of each platform in turn:
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Post by gatewaygent on Sept 16, 2014 21:33:22 GMT -8
Phase 1 - 2 tie-in in early November nears, which will require closure of each platform in turn: So is that when they're removing the light poles from the middle of the tracks?
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 17, 2014 10:01:28 GMT -8
Phase 1 - 2 tie-in in early November nears, which will require closure of each platform in turn: So is that when they're removing the light poles from the middle of the tracks? Yes, at that point, those large poles will have no use. The smaller poles before them, currently unused, will be used. They also need to remove the bumpers. They may wait for that until the system is working just in case a train doesn't wander into the oblivion.
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Sept 17, 2014 11:33:01 GMT -8
So is that when they're removing the light poles from the middle of the tracks? Yes, at that point, those large poles will have no use. The smaller poles before them, currently unused, will be used. They also need to remove the bumpers. They may wait for that until the system is working just in case a train doesn't wander into the oblivion. "Oblivion"? Is that what we're calling Palms now?
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Post by tramfan on Sept 25, 2014 11:55:45 GMT -8
Last night they completed laying ties from Military up the MSE ramp track 3 to Sepulveda station. The elevators at Sepulveda station have glass sidings installed. The West MSE ramp from Sepulveda station to the Sawtelle under crossing of the 405 has been closed off with continuous contrete barriers next to the future tracks. They're installing rail on the Pico bridge. The MKV 4 has been moved from Westwood station to the track between Westwood and Military. Lots of work going on at this part of the tracks probably signal and crossover cabling. On the North side of this part of the tracks sprinklers are being installed food the greenway. On the South side they're working daily on the bike path grading. Not much activity from Culver station to Palms: no cross arms for the OCS installed yet at Palms station. The elevators at Palms are working: saw them going up and down as I was waiting at the traffic lights on my way to work.
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Post by tramfan on Sept 25, 2014 11:57:09 GMT -8
I'll post some photos of some of these activities at Expoline fan's Ipernity page.
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Post by bobdavis on Sept 25, 2014 21:23:02 GMT -8
"Oblivion"? No, that's where the last Pacific Electric car on the Glendale Line went---there was a big banner on the last car reading "To Oblivion", which in the case of that car was Terminal Island.
Regarding the "rolling eyes" from wives: I don't have that problem--my wife is quite used to my checking out the Gold Line Foothill Extension project. Indeed back about 25 years ago, on one our our first "dates" we went out to the Poppy Reserve to admire the native flowers. On the way I spotted an SP freight train and came to a screeching halt, grabbed my camera and got some action shots. She didn't bat an eye, didn't say "What the heck are you doing?" or "Are you crazy?" just sat there and let me get my pix. We have also gone on a number of Amtrak trips, and even rode a private railcar from Santa Barbara to LA.
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Post by Gokhan on Sept 27, 2014 10:52:30 GMT -8
For all practical purposes, Expo tracks still head to oblivion until we have continuous and powered OCS, continuous tracks, communications and signals working, etc. So, don't attempt to drive your train past the Culver City Station. Hopefully it will no longer be oblivion after January or so.
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Post by bzcat on Oct 1, 2014 11:06:06 GMT -8
The Source posted this photo of car 1001 at Palmdale factory
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Oct 1, 2014 13:34:49 GMT -8
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Post by joshuanickel on Oct 2, 2014 9:02:39 GMT -8
Drove by Westwood Station today. There were two flatbed trucks sitting there with a crane off loading them. One truck looked like it had the rain covers for the platform while the other truck had the wavy canopies on it. Sorry no pics.
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Post by joshuanickel on Oct 2, 2014 9:05:17 GMT -8
Drove by Westwood Station today. There were two flatbed trucks sitting there with a crane off loading them. One truck looked like it had the rain covers for the platform while the other truck had the wavy canopies on it. Sorry no pics.
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Post by Gokhan on Oct 2, 2014 10:12:56 GMT -8
I can also report that the OCS wire is now progressing through Palms. Repeating the rest from the guess-the-Expo-Phase-2-opening-date thread: More details: Substantial completion (current estimate [@ 50% completion]): July 10, 2015 Length of testing and start-up: 150 days ROD (current estimate [@ 50% completion]): December 7, 2015 Contingency (current estimate [@ 50% completion]): 167 days ROD with contingency (current estimate [@ 50% completion]): May 22, 2016 Old contingency (estimate at project start): 334 days Old ROD date with contingency (estimate at project start): November 5, 2016 Next estimate for contingency and ROD with contingency: to be made at 90% completion Note that the project is currently 100% on schedule @ 50% completion. That's why the contingency was exactly cut by half (by 50%) from 334 days to 167 days. Bad news from the Palms / Cheviot Hills meeting on Tuesday. Skanska no longer intends to complete the construction early. They will complete the line and hand it over to Metro on the date specified on the contract, which is July 10, 2015. This is the earliest date the prerevenue operation can begin. This is in line with my observations that Skanska has been moving with a tortoise speed lately. They no longer have any intention of finishing the line ahead of schedule. At the end, since the main constraint will be the light-rail car availability, this won't affect the opening of the line to service. The opening could be as late as April 2016 for 6-minute headways. Since Kinki Sharyo is expected to speed up things, this could move the 6-minute-headway opening to January of February 2016 or so. Good news is that initial testing is still expected to start as early as January 2015. This is when we will see slow trains running through crossings with flagsmen. Most of the major construction should be finished by the end of 2014. 2015 will be mostly electrical/signals work, including the integration of the signals with LADOT.
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Post by tramfan on Oct 2, 2014 17:50:03 GMT -8
Drove by Westwood Station today. There were two flatbed trucks sitting there with a crane off loading them. One truck looked like it had the rain covers for the platform while the other truck had the wavy canopies on it. Sorry no pics. I took some pictures and sent them to Expoline fan. He will hopefully post them tomorrow on Ipernity.
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Post by joshuanickel on Oct 2, 2014 21:45:05 GMT -8
Drove by Westwood Station today. There were two flatbed trucks sitting there with a crane off loading them. One truck looked like it had the rain covers for the platform while the other truck had the wavy canopies on it. Sorry no pics. I took some pictures and sent them to Expoline fan. He will hopefully post them tomorrow on Ipernity. Expo has also posted some photos to their facebook page of the instaliation: Westwood Station Canopy installation
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Post by Gokhan on Oct 3, 2014 10:04:19 GMT -8
Expo tumbleweed plants along Exposition Boulevard in Palms. There are a lot of these tumbleweed plants along this stretch of Exposition Boulevard. The strip here will soon be cleared and graded for the installation of the 17-ft-wide multiuse path. More view of the future multiuse path:
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Post by bzcat on Oct 6, 2014 14:10:13 GMT -8
The tumble weeds added a rustic touch to Palms. I will miss them...
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Post by gatewaygent on Oct 6, 2014 22:37:14 GMT -8
Gokhan, is Skanska afraid that if they do, they'll feel expected/committed to complete future projects (if hired for any other) early as well? If they're going to lag it now, they might as well fix the dip in that ramp.
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Post by Gokhan on Oct 7, 2014 21:28:23 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Oct 7, 2014 21:31:18 GMT -8
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