Valley Line LRT/ Valley Line West | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

The one thing I'm concerned about is that I've seen no testing taking place at Bonnie Doon (Whyte/83rd Street or 87 Avenue at Vimy Ridge School) or 85 Street/95 Avenue. These would have to be critical areas to sign off on.
 
Hopefully, although, I am skeptical a lot of testing is happening on the line as a whole. The fact that they are still storing LRV's at 31 Ave as of Saturday AM makes we wonder what is wrong that they don't return to the shops at night?
Trains back out running today. At the north end of the Grey Nuns stop is a pedestrian crossing. Presumably this is still blocked off as the station isn't open yet, none the less, I was watching the trains pass through while pedestrians would have had a walk signal. Clearly not all signals are tied in yet. I guess I am not surprised.
 
I’m guessing that traffic personnel will be out in full force the day the Valley Line SE opens. How many people will complain that “they’ll have to wait for a train”?
 
I have no idea what they're up to at this point, but I will offer the point that they may be doing load testing for the trains, and making sure the power supply can support the trains acceleration while fully loaded. that would have to occur everywhere along the line, to ensure each TPSS is capable. Doing that might be easier/safer with flaggers keeping the line clear as opposed to waiting for all the signals to change. I biked past there a couple days ago and (I didn't watch super closely, but) the signals appeared to be working; car, pedestrian, and train; the train was just ignoring them.
Just guessing. I think the idea that there will be flaggers at key intersections on opening day is a good guess at this point.
SIDE TANGENT:
I was at West Ed today and saw the FIRST VIADUCT COLUMN BEING FORMED. the formwork is about half-up. it looks like they will be matching the VLSE design. The other thing i noticed is that it's coming out of a heavy concrete base that is probably 6'-8' higher than the existing ground level. a berm will be going in underneath maybe? Anyway, a couple of photos for posterity.
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