ProjectEnd
Superstar
Don't forget the small lakes which form in the winter and splash all around whatever vehicle you are riding on. Or the salt stains which adorn every piece of the interior for at least six months!
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Don't forget the small lakes which form in the winter and splash all around whatever vehicle you are riding on. Or the salt stains which adorn every piece of the interior for at least six months!
RedRocket191
Senior Member
New Streetcars / LRVs
The RFP for "(204) accessible Low Floor Light Rail Vehicles (LF LRV) that can be configured to operate on the existing surface rail system" were opened today.
Look at the list of respondents and tell me if anyone is surprised who the sole bidder is.
The RFP for "(204) accessible Low Floor Light Rail Vehicles (LF LRV) that can be configured to operate on the existing surface rail system" were opened today.
Look at the list of respondents and tell me if anyone is surprised who the sole bidder is.
isittimetomoveyet
Active Member
No, not too surprising at all. The City still doesn't have the funds to make this purchase, do they?
taal
Senior Member
What's the ETA on these guys when should we expect to see them on the streets?
So does that mean Simmons is out for good now and we know what train were getting?
So does that mean Simmons is out for good now and we know what train were getting?
RedRocket191
Senior Member
The contract will be awarded to Bombardier in November unless they decide to re-issue the tender. If they do, they will probably have to relax some of the technical requirements, which will be difficult to do. If I recall correctly, they are looking at a 2010-2012 for the first batch/prototype.
The purchase is still unfunded, but the final RTP will be out by then, so we'll know what kind of investment tools we'll have to pay for it.
The final design will probably be a mashup of Bombardier's current tram lineup, with the FLEXITY Berlin as the chassis.
The purchase is still unfunded, but the final RTP will be out by then, so we'll know what kind of investment tools we'll have to pay for it.
The final design will probably be a mashup of Bombardier's current tram lineup, with the FLEXITY Berlin as the chassis.
doady
Senior Member
Too bad. I would have preferred the Siemens trains.
urbanfan89
Active Member
Are the streetcars going to be single ended with doors on one side, or will this be the same as the double ended Transit City LRT fleet?
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Single ended with doors on one side. There are long term plans to convert the network to pantographs, but no long term plans to eliminate loops. Loops aren't really broken though.
Transit City cars will be double-ended.
Transit City cars will be double-ended.
Dan416
Senior Member
The Flexity Berlin cars don't look too bad.
Whoaccio
Senior Member
Hardly Lyon or Reims caliber though either...
Attachments
Filip
Senior Member
Oh wow! The FLEXITY trams are what Geneva uses too. Those would be amazing in Toronto.
Dan416
Senior Member
Are those supposed to examples of pretty streetcars? I think they're waaay too round. For something to be sexy it has to have some angles to it.
Whoaccio
Senior Member
Huh, weird. I kinda like the beluga-on-rails feel the Lyon cars have. I just thought the CLRVs at the very least gave Toronto something unique. I will be disappointed if we go for the same basic design as every Euro-village from France to Poland already has.
Might as well be distinct.
Dan416
Senior Member
Well it's all a matter of personal taste now isn't it?
299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
Bombardier set to score streetcar contract
MATTHEW CAMPBELL
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
July 2, 2008 at 1:37 AM EDT
TORONTO — Toronto's mammoth streetcar replacement contract is almost certainly headed to Canadian rail giant Bombardier Inc. after its main rival, Germany's Siemens AG, pulled out of bidding at nearly the last minute.
The Toronto Transit Commission closed the proposals process for the replacement program, which could eventually cost more than $3-billion and require some 600 vehicles, on Monday. The initial requirement is for 204 streetcars at a price of about $1.2-billion.
Only Bombardier and a small British manufacturer, TRAM Power, submitted bids.
TRAM Power's principal product is a prototype light-rail vehicle, and as such it has vastly less global experience – and local political clout – than Bombardier, which was anticipating a tough fight with Siemens for the contract.
With Siemens out of the way, Bombardier is now poised to fill a second huge transit vehicle order without major competition, after having been selected without open bidding to build $674-million worth of new TTC subway cars at its Thunder Bay plant in 2006.
Siemens had claimed that it could have provided the subway cars at significantly lower cost had it been allowed to bid.
Dirk Miller, a spokesman for Siemens, said that the company decided not to try for the streetcar project two weeks ago, despite considerable preparatory work, including a prominent ad campaign aimed at winning Torontonians over to its Combino family of light rail vehicles.
He declined to elaborate on why Siemens had chosen to pass up its chance at one of the world's largest rail vehicle orders, saying only that “finally we decided it was in our better interest not to bid.”
Toronto's effort to replace its much-loved but aging fleet of “red rocket” streetcars, and provide new vehicles for a major planned expansion of its light-rail network, has been controversial almost from the beginning.
Last year the TTC angered some manufacturers by announcing that it would require new streetcars to be 100-per-cent wheelchair-accessible, and by setting a minimum proportion of 25-per-cent Canadian content for their design and construction.
Critics suggested that both requirements were designed to fix the bidding process in favour of Bombardier – which has fully-accessible vehicle models and would build streetcars in Thunder Bay – and against foreign manufacturers.
TTC chairman Adam Giambrone said yesterday that he is not concerned about Siemens' withdrawal leading to a raw deal for the city.
He said that since the TTC will effectively be buying off-the-shelf models, “we already know what the prices are internationally.”
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who was one of the leading critics of the 2006 subway contract, was skeptical of Mr. Giambrone's logic. “If it's such a competitive marketplace, why aren't there more bidders?” he asked.
Bombardier did, however, submit its bid assuming it would have to compete with Siemens. A spokesman for Bombardier said yesterday that he had “no idea” the company had dropped out.
The sealed envelopes containing Bombardier and TRAM Power's exact prices will not be opened until later this year, after TTC officials examine the bids' technical components.
Labour officials, who lobbied for even higher Canadian content requirements for new streetcars, were ecstatic at the news that they are likely to be built by a Canadian company. Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he was “thrilled.”
MATTHEW CAMPBELL
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
July 2, 2008 at 1:37 AM EDT
TORONTO — Toronto's mammoth streetcar replacement contract is almost certainly headed to Canadian rail giant Bombardier Inc. after its main rival, Germany's Siemens AG, pulled out of bidding at nearly the last minute.
The Toronto Transit Commission closed the proposals process for the replacement program, which could eventually cost more than $3-billion and require some 600 vehicles, on Monday. The initial requirement is for 204 streetcars at a price of about $1.2-billion.
Only Bombardier and a small British manufacturer, TRAM Power, submitted bids.
TRAM Power's principal product is a prototype light-rail vehicle, and as such it has vastly less global experience – and local political clout – than Bombardier, which was anticipating a tough fight with Siemens for the contract.
With Siemens out of the way, Bombardier is now poised to fill a second huge transit vehicle order without major competition, after having been selected without open bidding to build $674-million worth of new TTC subway cars at its Thunder Bay plant in 2006.
Siemens had claimed that it could have provided the subway cars at significantly lower cost had it been allowed to bid.
Dirk Miller, a spokesman for Siemens, said that the company decided not to try for the streetcar project two weeks ago, despite considerable preparatory work, including a prominent ad campaign aimed at winning Torontonians over to its Combino family of light rail vehicles.
He declined to elaborate on why Siemens had chosen to pass up its chance at one of the world's largest rail vehicle orders, saying only that “finally we decided it was in our better interest not to bid.”
Toronto's effort to replace its much-loved but aging fleet of “red rocket” streetcars, and provide new vehicles for a major planned expansion of its light-rail network, has been controversial almost from the beginning.
Last year the TTC angered some manufacturers by announcing that it would require new streetcars to be 100-per-cent wheelchair-accessible, and by setting a minimum proportion of 25-per-cent Canadian content for their design and construction.
Critics suggested that both requirements were designed to fix the bidding process in favour of Bombardier – which has fully-accessible vehicle models and would build streetcars in Thunder Bay – and against foreign manufacturers.
TTC chairman Adam Giambrone said yesterday that he is not concerned about Siemens' withdrawal leading to a raw deal for the city.
He said that since the TTC will effectively be buying off-the-shelf models, “we already know what the prices are internationally.”
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who was one of the leading critics of the 2006 subway contract, was skeptical of Mr. Giambrone's logic. “If it's such a competitive marketplace, why aren't there more bidders?” he asked.
Bombardier did, however, submit its bid assuming it would have to compete with Siemens. A spokesman for Bombardier said yesterday that he had “no idea” the company had dropped out.
The sealed envelopes containing Bombardier and TRAM Power's exact prices will not be opened until later this year, after TTC officials examine the bids' technical components.
Labour officials, who lobbied for even higher Canadian content requirements for new streetcars, were ecstatic at the news that they are likely to be built by a Canadian company. Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he was “thrilled.”