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Post by thanks4goingmetro on Dec 12, 2014 10:32:19 GMT -8
Are the Phase 2 tracks complete yet? If not, what remains to be completed?
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 12, 2014 12:06:26 GMT -8
Are the Phase 2 tracks complete yet? If not, what remains to be completed? Not even close. No tracks Pico Blvd - Barrington Ave, Bundy Dr - Stewart St, and 5th St - 4th St.
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f ron
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Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Dec 17, 2014 16:18:38 GMT -8
Here's a neat overhead film shot by a drone showing the state of Phase 2, end-to-end. I saw this thing buzzing overhead about a week or so ago. Now I know what it was about! Now we can all appreciate what 80% complete looks like from above. vimeo.com/114205022
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Post by RMoses on Dec 17, 2014 18:17:40 GMT -8
Here's a neat overhead film shot by a drone showing the state of Phase 2, end-to-end. I saw this thing buzzing overhead about a week or so ago. Now I know what it was about! Now we can all appreciate what 80% complete looks like from above. vimeo.com/114205022Good shots, poor editing and no mention of the Maintenance Yard.
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Post by Philip on Dec 17, 2014 18:42:10 GMT -8
This technically belongs in the operations thread, but it pertains to Phase 2 as well.
I've been riding Expo more frequently to Downtown and not a single ride has taken less than 30 minutes end to end (tonight's trip took almost 40 minutes, a record length for my rides).
With that in mind, how the hell does Metro plan on running 5 minute headways on the completed Expo Line when the trains are *still* not running on time after two years?! I guess we can expect a lot of train bunching if this winds up being the plan with no signal preemption.
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Post by RMoses on Dec 17, 2014 19:56:49 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Dec 18, 2014 22:55:57 GMT -8
Here are the whole three photos I took this afternoon. Usually I take a lot more, but I guess I'm pretty used to shooting over the BB&B parapet. View west above the Bundy station, showing tracks and canopies. View east toward the 405 and downtown L.A., showing missing tracks from Barrington to Pico. And the view from Olympic and Bundy, canopies up, power lines routed below ground past the tracks, and a whole lot of visual clutter.
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Post by joshuanickel on Dec 19, 2014 17:22:20 GMT -8
In preparation for the beginning of clearance testing, Skanska has built a cart to be used for clearance testing and it is sitting on the track west of 17th Street Station. As was done on Phase one, the cart will be pulled by a hi-rail tractor to test the clearances along the alignment before they start testing with actual lrv's Cart sitting east of 17th Street Station: Clearance cart used on Phase 1:
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f ron
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Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Dec 19, 2014 21:39:13 GMT -8
Now where's the fun in seeing a cart get wedged beneath the 405?
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 22, 2014 13:16:30 GMT -8
Ha! Expo Phase 1 bumpers are now set aside. You know what this means. Also note that they are installing traffic signals at Exposition Blvd and Bagley Ave in the background, currently an all-way-stop intersection.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 23, 2014 17:55:20 GMT -8
Hold on to your horses, guys -- the bumpers have been replaced with Aldon CS-2 car stops. I wouldn't like my runaway train jump over these on a bridge: Surprisingly, there is a TPSS hookup point just east of Palms/National/Exposition Boulevards, more than a block away from the TPSS at Clarington Ave and National Blvd. They were connecting the feeder wires to the OCS this morning at this hookup point:
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Post by joemagruder on Dec 24, 2014 7:25:15 GMT -8
So the train fails to stop, destroys the stop light and its pedestal and then comes to the car stop. What's wrong with this picture?
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Post by rubbertoe on Dec 24, 2014 9:03:03 GMT -8
Anybody care to hazard a guess as to why some of the catenary poles have LED lights on the top and others don't?
East of Sierra Madre on the GLFE in the freeway median there is a long stretch that has them, followed by a long stretch where they are absent. So it can't have anything to do with possible pedestrian activity.
RT
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 24, 2014 11:19:55 GMT -8
So the train fails to stop, destroys the stop light and its pedestal and then comes to the car stop. What's wrong with this picture? Car stops only work at very low speeds (a few MPH). A fast-moving train would jump over them and derail. Or perhaps the wheels would keep landing on the rails -- who knows.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 24, 2014 11:24:31 GMT -8
Anybody care to hazard a guess as to why some of the catenary poles have LED lights on the top and others don't? East of Sierra Madre on the GLFE in the freeway median there is a long stretch that has them, followed by a long stretch where they are absent. So it can't have anything to do with possible pedestrian activity. RT Stock shortage?
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Post by darrell on Jan 1, 2015 17:17:55 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 1, 2015 17:36:06 GMT -8
Very nice, thanks, Darrell.
Expo Phase 2 may be violating the minimum clearance for the OCS pole in Figure 4.5.1 (Page 4-56) in the Northvale Road trench.
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Post by metrocenter on Jan 2, 2015 9:47:55 GMT -8
That Light Rail handbook is an excellent resource, thanks for posting Darrell! Surprisingly readable for a handbook of technical guidelines.
Oh and, Happy New Year everybody!
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 6, 2015 10:57:45 GMT -8
It turns out that this one just east of National/Palms/Exposition Boulevards is a cutoff switch, with the black cables connecting the OCS wires to the poles of the switch. Hookup of the Clarington Avenue TPSS to the OCS is nearly complete. It should be completed today. Yesterday, the A/C of the TPSS was running: Expo Line Phase 2 train testing has now started with field trips and meetings for the Metro, Expo, and Skanska/Rados staff. So, expolinefan was right that the train testing would start on January 5, 2015. It will be a while before we see an actual train running: When you zoom, you can see that right now they are testing the OCS with a pantograph installed on a hi-rail truck. They will also be performing clearance testing with a dolly if they haven't already done so. I don't know when will they do the towing test of an actual light-rail vehicle:
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Post by darrell on Jan 7, 2015 11:17:23 GMT -8
Thanks for the photos, Gokhan! I've been seeing these trucks working below the catenary while driving by on the freeway this last week.
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Post by darrell on Jan 7, 2015 21:08:04 GMT -8
The first (of two) OCS wires are up across Military Ave. and part way up the Sepulveda ramp.
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Post by tramfan on Jan 8, 2015 13:12:35 GMT -8
I posted some pictures of this at Expoline fan's Ipernity page.
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 14, 2015 16:15:54 GMT -8
I couldn't tell what this machine was for. It seemed to be smoking underneath. Sweeper?
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Post by darrell on Jan 15, 2015 18:32:58 GMT -8
Rail grinder? Any particular sound?
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Jan 16, 2015 0:35:03 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 16, 2015 13:04:00 GMT -8
Certainly different than the railgrinders used by Balfour Beatty Rail during Expo Line Phase 1: OMG, I can't believe they are now less than six months away from their contract deadline of July 10, 2015, but the track and OCS is only halfway done, not to mention all the signals, street reconstruction, stations, landscaping, etc... In contrast, look in the picture above how everything was already finished by the time they were grinding the rail. I think the construction will be delayed well into late 2015 and early 2016 and the "real" train testing won't start until sometime in the summer, if not fall, when they can actually complete the track and OCS all the way to Santa Monica. Expect the line to open around April or May 2016.
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 19, 2015 12:19:09 GMT -8
According to latest from Metro, limited train testing to Overland Avenue will start in early March.
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f ron
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Post by f ron on Jan 19, 2015 12:30:46 GMT -8
That's pretty limited all right if they're not intending to take a test train across the at-grade crossing. Still, there's the 'challenge' of testing the clearance on the I-10 box and the pedestrian bridge at Palms park I guess.
I'll bet a full end-to-end test doesn't come around until May or maybe even June.
Funny I would have thought they were done with the Nothvale trench segment a while back but crews have been around regularly over the past 6 weeks finessing as well as tamping down fine gravel alongside the tracks for a foot path. No sign or sound of the rail-grinder though.
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Post by Gokhan on Jan 19, 2015 12:56:11 GMT -8
I'll bet a full end-to-end test doesn't come around until May or maybe even June. With the current construction speed, I doubt the track and OCS can be completed end-to-end before August or September 2015. Signals may take even longer.
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f ron
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Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Jan 19, 2015 13:33:26 GMT -8
Would lack of signals preclude running a test train? So long as there are signal persons at the crossings to accomodate?
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