More than 3,000 Edmontonians viewed their city’s first low-floor LRV during the week of July 27 at Bonnie Doon Mall. The seven-section, double-ended Bombardier Flexity Freedom car was on public display after recently arriving by CN from the Kingston, Ontario plant. It is 131 feet long with couplers folded; 137 feet with couplers out. There are 82 seats; the cars can accommodate 275 passengers.
Major changes are in store for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Hillcrest Complex, the traditional nerve center of its operations. A recently completed report examined the future of the complex, which is being affected by technological changes. It was prompted, in part, by the impending partial redundancy of two major buildings. But though significant changes are coming down the track, Hillcrest Complex, will continue playing a major part in TTC’s operations, as it has for almost a century.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) recently suffered another setback in the delivery of its much-delayed 204-unit Flexity Outlook LRV order. Carbuilder Bombardier Transportation has advised the TTC that 67 of the LRVs have frames that were improperly welded at the company’s Sahagun, Mexico plant. A Bombardier spokesperson stressed that the welding deficiencies do not represent a safety issue (most of the cars involved are presently in service), but could become issues later in the cars’ expected 30-year life spans.
Construction of Edmonton, Alberta’s eight-mile Valley Line LRT, begun in April 2016, is nearing the half-way point. The project involves two significant firsts for the city that is the province’s capital: It will be Edmonton’s first low-floor LRT line; and the first built under the P3 (public-private partnership) method.
Alstom Canada has leased a large industrial building in Brampton, Ontario, northwest of Toronto, for the assembly of its Citadis Spirit LRVs. Debro Steel formerly occupied the building, located on the south side of CN’s east-west access line that serves MacMillan Yard, Toronto’s main classification yard.
Two light rail new-starts in Canada’s Ontario province appear to be on diverging paths. Hamilton’s is at the RFP stage, while Kitchener-Waterloo’s opening has been delayed, again.
Doug Ford, the newly-elected leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party and brother of the late, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, has publicly promised to honor the $1 billion commitment of the current Liberal government to the Hamilton LRT project, should he become Premier in June 2018.
The procurement process for two Metrolinx new-build light rail transit (LRT) projects in the GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) have advanced significantly.
LRV testing on the new Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) LRT line has been ongoing since late 2017.
As of late March 2018, only one further heavy rail subway has been approved in Toronto, following the opening of the Toronto Transit Commission Line 1 Vaughan Extension.