Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[jednc]

Just now, kermit said:

given that there are several station entrances that have not been finished yet (36th street is the worst offender) I would be very surprised if they opened early.

 

That's what I figured. The only reason I was asking (aside from being anxious like everyone else for this to open) was a friend of mine said he had been told it would be operational by the CIAA Tournament. I told him that's not what CATS had announced but he could only repeat what he'd been told. I don't think his source was what you'd call reliable (due to the fact that they were passing along info that had been shared with them...so this is info is 3rd or 4th hand). I just figured if there was any possibility of it opening a bit early, they might have mentioned it at this preview ride.

[michaelef]

They confirmed March 16 is still the opening date. 36th street (the actual street) is supposed to re-open by June, and they are in the works with a ride share (they didnt' confirm Lyft or Uber) to have a  service that will connect you from CATS transit to rideshare. That was all mentioned in the preview ride. 

Edited February 21, 2018 by michaelef

[dylansukkert]

That first weekend could be busy for the opening. Having the NCAA tournament the 16th & 18th and also the St Patrick's Day Bar crawl on the 17th. It'll start off with a bang! 

[15895]

Chaos at the light rail crossing by the Walmart at UNCC. The crossing has been down for a solid 15 minutes with no trains crossing. 

They did go up twice. But only briefly during a red light, lol. At one point a lot of people were honking. 

 

Edit: for the 3rd time it went up for a few seconds during a red light.  There was a train crossing it seemed very frequently. Maybe every 4 minutes. But since the crossing has been blinking, nothing. and the trains were crossing very slow and stopping when they did cross (and the panhandlers are enjoying the increased audience of people waiting). 

Train just sitting over UC Blvd the entire time 

Edited February 21, 2018 by AirNostrumMAD

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

1 hour ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Chaos at the light rail crossing by the Walmart at UNCC. The crossing has been down for a solid 15 minutes with no trains crossing. 

They did go up twice. But only briefly during a red light, lol. At one point a lot of people were honking. 

 

Edit: for the 3rd time it went up for a few seconds during a red light. 

I actually saw that same problem at the crossing right across Chipotle and the university.  The crossing was down...no trains to be seen and cars were trying to shimmy through the gates...But I guess this is what all these trial runs are for...hopefully they resolve everything quickly though.  

Edited February 21, 2018 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[kermit]

Whatever the problem is, it appears to be mucking up the whole BLE. They are turning trains at 7th street and they have the CATS rentacops directing cars around the gates at 7th.

gates at 8th and 9th are also down.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2018 by kermit

[SgtCampsalot]

13 minutes ago, kermit said:

Whatever the problem is, it appears to be mucking up the whole BLE. They are turning trains at 7th street and they have the CATS rentacops directing cars around the gates at 7th.

gayes at 8th and 9th are also down.

 

 

Looks like CATS has been visited by Crash Overdrive.

[kermit]

Not much info but the official word:

 

[nmundo]

There is a train stopped across the street from the Tryon Walmart. Like completely stopped and the gates are down as if the train is about to cross. It’s been like this for about 5 minutes now. I wonder if this is going to cause a delay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is a train stopped across the street from the Tryon Walmart. Like completely stopped and the gates are down as if the train is about to cross. It’s been like this for about 5 minutes now. I wonder if this is going to cause a delay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kermit]

Gezzz things are messed up. The streetlights along the rail trail from 7th up past 9th are all blinking on and off in unison every 5 seconds. 

The sadest disco ever.

the crossing gates are no longer blocking traffic but they are flashing their white (to train operator) light.

Edited February 22, 2018 by kermit

[go_vertical]

6 hours ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Looks like CATS has been visited by Crash Overdrive.

I don't know, this looks like the work of Acid Burn to me.

[kermit]

No trains on BLE this morning.  Signals still malfunctioning, crossing gates  have been disabled (all up).

This may not be pretty.

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

No trains on BLE this morning.  Signals still malfunctioning, crossing gates  have been disabled (all up).

I have an uneasy feeling that they might have pushed out a "patch"/fix to the controllers for the BLE opening and did not test it properly. That, or they were hacked

[tozmervo]

"Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

[elrodvt]

You forgot to leave it unplugged for at least 1 minute.

Edited February 22, 2018 by elrodvt

[KJHburg]

Just saw this on twitter

[rancenc]

45 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Just saw this on twitter

It was the RUSSIANS!! President Vladimir P ordered a hacking of the CATS system!!

[nakers2]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Just saw this on twitter

As annoying as it may be, I'd rather have a fail safe that puts all the crossing arms down instead of leaving them up, the Blue Line has killed before, albeit due to negligence on the part of the motorist or pedestrian, but still. 

[Norm2]

I went to the Mad Monster Party this weekend at the Hilton University, and light rail testing caused one of the transformers in front of the hotel to explode. The hotel was without power for a while and people were stuck in elevators.

[Scribe]

19 hours ago, nakers2 said:

Blue Line has killed before

While I agree on the safety feature being correct (leaving the arms down)... the Blue Line is not sentient. People have killed themselves on the BL rails by being idiots.

17 hours ago, norm21499 said:

I went to the Mad Monster Party this weekend at the Hilton University, and light rail testing caused one of the transformers in front of the hotel to explode.

I call BS.

The light rail has its own power stations - that convert grid power to DC. A transformer in front of a hotel would not be servicing the Lynx in any fashion.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Scribe

[Windsurfer]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

 

The light rail has its own power stations - that convert grid power to DC. A transformer in front of a hotel would not be servicing the Lynx in any fashion.

Wait. I want to know more about this. They have their "own power stations" ?   Where?   They don't tap into the regular AC grid?

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

that convert grid power to DC.

more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traction_substation

 

But they take grid power and convert it from AC to DC for the Lynx power lines.

[LKN704]

I do wonder what would be the purpose of this fail-safe system-what would have to occur on a train/along the ROW for the system to be activated?

[Windsurfer]

15 minutes ago, Scribe said:

more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traction_substation

 

But they take grid power and convert it from AC to DC for the Lynx power lines.

Then,  it IS conceivable that by tapping into the overall grid that funny things, like an adjacent transformer, could blow.  It's not an isolated power station.

[Scribe]

9 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

Then,  it IS conceivable

No, not really.

That would be like 2 people on a lake one with a smaller bucket and the other -  a few yards away - with a larger bucket and the guy with the smaller bucket gets a crack in the bucket, but blames the guy with the larger bucket for not being able to get water out of the lake.

If the grid is overloaded (i.e. not enough water in the lake) then that is most definitely not a Lynx problem, that is a utility supply problem (call Duke).

But if the grid was overloaded, then the entire area (whatever is serviced by the nearest grid sub-station) would be affected, not a single transformer at a Hotel.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Scribe