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1233 Queen East | ?m | 8s

If we made our subway trains like this...

shinkansen_500_.jpg


I wonder how much room would be left on the train for passengers.

I would imagine the turning radius for a train like that is extremely poor even at the slowest speed possible. It would need to become the Jarvis Spadina line just to be able to turn into Union station. It would be nice if they made the subway that aerodynamic though... the cab and tail could stick out beyond the platform to keep the same carrying capacity.
 
It would be nice if they made the subway that aerodynamic though... the cab and tail could stick out beyond the platform to keep the same carrying capacity.

Aerodynamic inside a tight tunnel and in openair are two very different designs.
 
^ I was kidding about suggesting that the TTC turn its new subway train into something like the train in the photo I posted (the JR 500 Series is the fastest train in Japan's Shinkansen HSR system, with a maximum operating speed of 300 km/h).

The 500 Series was designed by Germany's N+P Industrial Design firm. The firm also designed new subway trains for Munich...

800px-Munich_subway_C-Zug.jpg
 
I liked the Stockholm subway trains when I was there. They use 3 car sets, with 3 sets during weekdays and 2 sets on weekends, when demand is down (at least that's what I noticed 4 years ago, and my memory might be a bit hazy)

from wiki...
Tunnelbana train C20
 
I always found it annoying in Toronto when they ran reduced sized subway trains on weekends. You never knew where to stand, and had to sprint sometimes when you weren't in the right place.
 
that's when the lcd screens could come in handy, but unfortuently, we use them for ads instead of useful information.
 
I've now been on the Shenzhen Metro. Neat to see the open car ends for sure.

The Metro has all the latest bells and whistles. RFID smart cards (also good for the buses, where it deducts a lower amount than the cash fare), RFID green tokens, platform screen doors, train countdown timers on the LCD TVs (which play advisories, PR and safety messages, the times are quite visible), the trains themselves are open like the new Toronto subway cars will be, and they have blinking and flashing LED system maps. The announcements are hard to hear at times, but are pleasant (god, I hate the voice on the Toronto subway, especially when the volume is up), and are trilingual - Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Everything in the subway is written bilingual in Chinese and English or station names in Pinyin (unlike Hong Kong, where if there is an equivalent English Translation, it's in English. Even Window of the World Station is written in Pinyin, not English.

Yes, the subway cars are Bombariders, but built in a joint venture with Changchun Car Company. Apparently the Movia line (which Toronto will get too) is just a basic design meant to be different based on the order specs. All the engineering and the first car done by Bombardier, the rest of the production done by the Chinese. Seems this is the route many auto manufacturers go in China as well - I have visited a FAW plant in a joint venture with VW.

But the subway is boring once you get past the latest in subway technology. The trains are white and metallic, spartan, almost sterile (totally agree with you 299 Bloor). I'll take the TTC's hard red "padded" seats in mixed form over the metal benches here. There's nothing to see as it is all underground. Stations are the same. I really hope for the deep red the TTC has in the T1s, they really do make a difference. Even though the cars are fairly wide, all perimeter seating on metal benches.

The good news is in three years, the Metro will almost triple in size. Right now it hardly covers a small part of the city. In a few years, it will be respectable for the 8 million in the immediate urban region. I get more and more jaded with 'Transit City' by the way, when I see the subway expansion elsewhere (it's everywhere in Shenzhen). Is the half-baked TC plan the best we can do? Jane is looking like a quagmire, Scarborough-Malvern makes no sense past UTSC, and Sheppard will be a transit mess for years and years. Eglinton, Finch, and maybe Don Mills are really the only good aspects.
 
I don't see why they make the seats with cushions. Don't they realize those seats get dirty very quickly? The HK ones are better. They're all metal and don't restrict you to how much space you occupy (big bums occupy more space, smaller ones fit more people into seats). Also they're easier to clean. They should also implement like HK (no food or drinks allowed) That way they save money from having to clean up so much crap and dirtying the trains. I notice the trains in Seoul and Japan are pretty clean too.
 
This topic has been awfully quiet for a while. The TTC's website still claims that some of these trains should be entering service this year. That means they would have been tested first, after delivery.. That means if this is still going to be the case, there is not much time before the first ones should be arriving... Does anyone have any more info on what is happening with these things?? I feel like a kid at the beginning of december counting down until christmas.. :rolleyes:
 
I believe that a prototype train is supposed to arrive this year for testing and evaluation, but not the regular fleet.
 

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