Metrolinx: Bombardier Flexity Freedom & Alstom Citadis Spirit LRVs

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Toronto transit is a mess.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Toronto transit is a mess.

yes but mostly the projects that have outside influence or interference

 

[muller877]

yes but mostly the projects that have outside influence or interference

Every project has outside influences. It's the project managers job (i.e. TTC's) to manage them.

And part of managing is to make decisions and proceed. not be a deer caught in headlights

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Every project has outside influences. It's the project managers job (i.e. TTC's) to manage them.

And part of managing is to make decisions and proceed. not be a deer caught in headlights

In this case it isn't the TTC but a company that was created by the provincial government with no previous experience with public transit at all. If the TTC was involved there wouldn't be this mess that Metrolinx has created for themselves.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

yes but mostly the projects that have outside influence or interference

Fair but the crosstown is in disarray now. Something has to give.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Fair but the crosstown is in disarray now. Something has to give.

Yup I think the heads of Metrolinx need to be fired and replaced by people that actually know something about public transit.

 

[dowlingm]

The idea that because Metrolinx don't run light rail now that they will inevitably stuff up light rail for that reason is interesting to me.

1. It's not like TTC/CoT haven't stuffed up running streetcars in various ways
2. By those lights no new light rail system anywhere in the world will ever get off the ground because... they've never run light rail before!
3. Metrolinx can hire people with light rail experience, and presumably already have one or two on the books. TTC is going to be handling operations and presumably a contractor like Bombar... hmm... Transdev will do whatever else TTC doesn't do.

 

[drum118]

Yup I think the heads of Metrolinx need to be fired and replaced by people that actually know something about public transit.

I have being calling for this for the past 5 years. Not only the CEO, Chair, but a number of key personnel.

Then the BOD needs to be replace by people who know transit very well and willing to put people feet to the fire. Then Queens Park need to fund Metrolinx correctly to allow them to do what they really need to do and remove their hands on interference to get pet projects done.

Metrolinx needs to go to the market to buy what it needs and not worry about job protection or votes.

To do what the Government wants to do is going to cost a lot more than they think it will and may take longer to do it.

Its time to look at the big picture as where Metrolinx will operate in Southern Ontario and its beyond the Big Move Plan already. Where is the review of the Big Move for 2016 and a ranking of the next wave??

 

[steveintoronto]

Yup I think the heads of Metrolinx need to be fired and replaced by people that actually know something about public transit.

Can't give you thumbs up because it's a bit too general, but I almost did. Something ain't right at Metrolinx executive suite. They've bungled far more than their fair share of projects...

 

[Amare]

As long as Kathleen is in charge I wouldnt expect any changes over at Metrolinx. I'm expecting a big scandal coming out from that organization them in the near future.

 

[steveintoronto]

As long as Kathleen is in charge I wouldnt expect any changes over at Metrolinx. I'm expecting a big scandal coming out from that organization them in the near future.

Once Del Duca is dethroned from Transport, the infection can be dealt with.

 

[nfitz]

Once Del Duca is dethroned from Transport, the infection can be dealt with.

Yeah - then the new minister can build LRT in North Bay, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay. Save on shipping those cars as far from Thunder Bay ...

 

[steveintoronto]

Yeah - then the new minister can build LRT in North Bay, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay. Save on shipping those cars as far from Thunder Bay ...

Ummm...Millhaven?

 

[nfitz]

Ummm...Millhaven?

I doubt it - it's all about the north isn't it ... that what the PCs did last time.

 

[steveintoronto]

I doubt it - it's all about the north isn't it ... that what the PCs did last time.

Bombardier has completed a major expansion of its Millhaven rail production facility.

The company spent $11 million to expand its light rail vehicle (LRV) manufacturing space at the site on Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, west of Kingston.

The facility now has almost 4,200 square metres (45,000 square feet) of construction space, including five construction bays, a new 10-ton crane, new connections to the CN rail spur and improvements to the two-kilometre-long test track.

“To really have the manufacturing capacity to go forward, we did a big investment in our Kingston plant. We more than doubled the manufacturing area,” said company spokesperson Marc-Andre Lefebvre.

“Right now we are moving in all the tooling to be ready for light rail manufacturing.”

Approximately 300 people currently work at the Kingston-area plant right, but Lefebvre said the number of employees varies depending on the contracts they secure.

“Ours is a business of ebbs and flows, moved by the cyclical nature of the contracts we secure,” he said in an email Thursday. “That is why we usually indicate workforce by project, because we can only predict workforce in the future for work that we have already secured.”

Lefebvre said the light rail contracts the company has will sustain about 175 jobs on average over the next six years and peak at 240 jobs in 2019.

Early this year, two contracts were completed, including a second order for rail cars for the transit system in Kuala Lumpur, and Lefebvre said about 70 jobs from those contracts were transferred to the light rail vehicle manufacturing.

“So, in total, we are creating, on average, as production on LRVs ramp up, approximately 100 new jobs for the duration of this contract,” Lefebvre said.

The Millhaven plant expansion was announced in May when Bombardier revealed plans to relieve pressure on its Thunder Bay facility — which has been tasked with completing a $1.25 billion Toronto Transit Commission project — by shifting all non-TTC related work to its Kingston centre.

The company plans to turn its Kingston facility into a hub for light rail car production for Canada and the United States, Lefebvre said.

http://www.thewhig.com/2016/12/08/bombardier-completes-expansion

Maybe a competitor will open a plant in Northern Ontario, but I highly doubt it. Until Trump's dump is figured out, and BBD's deliveries are rationalized, there's not going to be any investment in the niche. In fact, it remains to be seen how BBD will be able to "...turn its Kingston facility into a hub for light rail car production for Canada and the United States, Lefebvre said.".

Trump is indicating otherwise.