News Flash
Metrolinx buys 182 more Bombardier streetcars
Toronto's Metrolinx has exercised a $770 million option to purchase 182 light-rail vehicles from Bombardier Inc., which will grace Toronto streets in the next three to 10 years.
The option is part of a June 2009 contract for 204 revolutionary low-floor cars, new for Toronto. Metrolinx can still opt to buy up to 118 more vehicles.
Similar versions of the streetcars, which have a capacity of more than 280 people, are already used in Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Turkey, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
Raymond Bachant, North American president of Bombardier Transportation, said the order "solidifies our presence in Ontario and highlights Bombardier's proven state of the art light rail technology."
I guess only one question remains: if a leaf falls in front of a new Bombardier streetcar and there's no one there to pick it up, will it have a "state of the art, light rail" breakdown?
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...which will grace Toronto streets in the next three to 10 years.
3 to 10 years!!!! 10 years is 300% later than 3 years.
And yet this timeline is acceptable for the TTC and Cityhall.
What a crock.
Also, what is with blogTO and it's negative attitude on pretty much everything you guys report? Yeah we get it, the TTC sucks, but this is somewhat decent news.
You will likely see the first ones roll out in 3 years and the remainder of them deployed over the following 7 years. If they opt to buy the additional 118 units, the rollout will likely take an additional 5 years. They first three years will be broken down into requirements refinement, engineering, build, testing, and acceptance. The testing will likely take about a year to ensure that the vehicle is tested against all weather conditions.
While this seems excessively long, these vehicles will remain in operation fot the next 30+ years at which point, they will be replaced by teleportation devices. ;)
I must admit though, I really do like the beat up old current cars we have. they add grimy nostalgia, I hope 20 years down the road they keep a couple and refurbish them, that 70's tackiness will be refreshing in 2035. We trashed all the old PCC cars so I'm hoping the TTC doesn't go the route of trashing all of these.
I'm sure some of the CLRVs and ALRVs (outgoing models) will be saved as well.