The Western Canada Group of Chartered Engineers
Serving
members of ICE, IMechE, IEE. IStructE, IChemE, CIBSE located in BC, Yukon,
Washington, and Alaska
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Dateline 6 JULY 2010
ON THIS PAGE:-
ASME INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CONGRESS & EXPOSITION 2010
CURRENT
ISSUES OF THE CHALLENGE NEWSLETTER
JULY BBQ INVITATION
|
Topic |
|
|
Location |
The home of Bill & Vivian Vaughan, 4621 Woodburn Place, West Vancouver, BC (please see map) |
|
Date |
Saturday 24 July 2010 |
|
Time |
Doors open at 3:00 PM Appetizers and refreshments will be served prior to
dinner BBQ dinner commences at 5:00 PM The event ends at approx. 8:00 PM |
|
Register |
Please contact
James Canova by the end of Monday 19 July 2010 Tel: (604) 266-3324 or
e-mail: jcanova@shaw.ca.
|
|
Fee |
WCGCE member: $15 Spouse or 1st Guest: $15 Additional Guest (including children over 16 yrs):
$35 Children 16 yrs or under: Free payable at the door by cash or cheque |
ASME INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING CONGRESS & EXPOSITION
|
Topic |
ASME INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CONGRESS
& EXPOSITION |
|
Speaker |
Please visit the
Congress Web Site:
www.asmeconferences.org/congress2010
or
|
|
Location |
Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
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Date & Time |
Sunday 14 November 2010.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
|
|
Register |
Please contact
Mike Reier Tel:
410-893-8003 or mail:
mreier@executivepublishing.com.
For Detail, please visit the
Congress Web Site:
|
REPORT ON NOVEMBER MEETING
The November
meeting was a site visit to the brand new Canada
Line rapid transit system 0peration Management Centre, located just south of
the North Arm of the Fraser river in Richmond
The group heard a
Power Point presentation by Grant on the Canada
The system consists
of some 20 double car trains under fully automatic control, that run on an
electric railway which is 18.5 kilometers long, running between Downtown
Vancouver and either Richmond or Vancouver International Airport. The system in
Vancouver is a subway and then becomes an
elevated line when it crosses the Fraser
River
The system cost
some $1.9 billion and was financed by the Federal Government and 3 equal
partners; 33% SNC Lavelin, the contractor and operator, 33% CDP and 33% bcIMC.
The Federal Government provided $1.25 billion and the debt partners $657
million Protrans BC
The twin tunnels
are bored under False Creek and downtown Vancouver
The group also went
on a tour of the Train Hall where the 41 meter long double car units are on
raised platforms to allow easy inspection and maintenance. The Hall has a
capacity for 3 trains and a staff of 67 is involved in the maintenance.
The trains are
powered by 750 volt DC. There are manual controls at each end of the train to
maneuver the cars when off the main line or in an emergency. These controls are
covered by a locked panel during normal operation. Rail cleaning is carried out
about every 6 months or more frequently as needed. In frosty weather a coating
of glycerin is applied to the above ground rails to improve traction.
The group was then
taken to the Control Centre where the group was given an explanation of the
operation of the facility.
The system operates
from 4:45am to 1:45am daily, and is designed to handle 100,000 passengers per
day and has already reached 80, 000 which was not expected until 2011. The
maximum is on Friday and the lowest is on a Sunday. It has become very popular
for people traveling to YVR to catch flights or return from trips. The system is
performing above expectations with the only weakness the station cleanliness
caused by a few less careful passengers. The only stoppage was due to a medical
emergency of a passenger last week.
THE ChallEnge 2009 ISSUES
Both Summer and winter
editions are now available online. An Acrobat
reader is required to view the content. Click on the appropriate link for
the necessary download(s).
Future
meetings
- If you have an interesting product or project at work that
you feel our Group members would like to know more about, please don't hesitate
to contact James
Canova, who can arrange
with you a suitable time and date for a talk or tour. Our technical
meetings program comprises an eclectic mix of engineering topics as well
as general items of interest to engineers, and the Group welcomes a
further broadening of its topic base.
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Background
Founded in 1987
as an amalgamation of the Western Canada branches of the Institutions of Civil,
Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, the Group expanded in 1994 to include members
of the Institutions of Structural and Chemical Engineers. In 1998 the Group
expanded again to include the Chartered Institution of Building Services
Engineers. It now represents over 1000 members of these
Mission
The Group
exists not only to extend the Institutions' services to their overseas members,
but also to assist local engineers, EITs and technologists with an interest in
European practices and technology, and/or aspirations to register
professionally in
Activities
The Group runs
a technical meeting and site visit program out of
Those visiting this website in order to
research prospects
for an engineering job here in British Columbia, should navigate to a new page identified on our main
services menu. This is based on a letter we have been using as a reply to
inquiries over the last couple of years. We have tried to portray a realistic
appreciation of what your chances of getting a job here might be, and not we
hope either too rosy or too negative a picture.
This page and
all subsidiary pages are currently under continuous development. If there's
anything you need to know about the Group, further details of the Group may be
obtained from the Group Webmaster,
Timothy Ma, M.Sc., B.Eng.,
C.Eng., M.I.E.T.
Tel: (604) 789-4688
e-mail: webmaster@wcgce.org, or click on name above
