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TTC: Flexity Streetcars Testing & Delivery (Bombardier)

dziogo said:
explains it. thought it may be a diesel ;-)
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More and more, systems are moving to battery power for either parts of the line or the whole line. Detroit and Dallas have battery power with haft of Detroit line having no overhead.

Nice France has battery for a section in the plaza area that only takes 10 seconds to change power mode each way.

I believe it Liverpool who is in the process of converting their fleet from overhead to battery 100% system wide.

There are other systems that have duel power, with battery being the leading off wire source.

In the next 10-20 years, you will see the dismantle of the current overhead for trams around the world and be replace with battery only. I am on record that this will be TTC last fleet that will use overhead, with battery being the source of power for the next fleet.

Metrolinx is suppose to be leaving how various lines will be power up to the parties who will build and operate them, starting in late 2017 and early 2018.
 
[...]
Approximately 60 percent of the line will not be equipped with overhead electrical wires, and the streetcars will be powered solely from lithium-ion batteries on that section.[33]

On February 15, 2015, M-1 Rail reported that the Penske Tech Center was under construction in New Center. The $6.9 million, 19,000-square-foot (1,800 m2) structure will serve as the M-1 Rail headquarters, the operations center, and the streetcar maintenance facility. The tech center building will be sited close to Woodward Avenue, and located between Bethune and Custer streets north and east of Grand Boulevard with the streetcar storage yard behind. The exterior will be made of reddish brick to mimic the historical look and feel of the surrounding neighborhood, and was completed in May 2016. [34]
[...]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QLine#cite_note-detroit-news-2015jun-33
[...]Brookville's streetcars have an increased ability to run on battery power instead of overhead aerial electrical lines, and that drove up the entire project cost by about 4 percent to the current $166 million price tag. That includes preconstruction, administrative and capital costs, but not operational funding needs. Funding is a mixture of private, foundation, local, state and federal money. The line's organizers told Crain's last week that it is in talks for an additional $5 million in funding from a to-be-named donor.
[...]
Brookville, which dates to 1918, provided streetcars for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit that is among the systems M-1 has studied since the project launched in 2007.

The company’s website says it entered the streetcar business in 2002 and there are 68 Brookville streetcars currently in service. Other cities using its streetcars are New Orleans, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

“Selection of Brookville provides M-1 Rail with a company that has experience constructing streetcars that best meet this project’s technological requirements and timeline, “ said M-1 Rail COO Paul Childs in a statement.

Brookville, headquartered in the Pennsylvania city of the same name, is the only maker of streetcars to design and manufacture exclusively in the United States, M-1 said.

“Brookville has had success building streetcars with similar operating systems and specifications to what we have planned for M-1 Rail, so we know exactly what we’re getting. Other streetcar projects utilize overhead wiring for everything from vehicle propulsion to the infrastructure of their maintenance and repair sites,” Childs said. “M-1 Rail will minimize its impact on the aesthetics of Detroit’s iconic Woodward Avenue, and the Penske Technical Center will not have the labyrinth of wires overhead that typify the maintenance and repair sites of other systems.”

Fares for the Woodward line are expected to be $1.50, and a variety of passes and fare options will be available.

Construction of the 3.3-mile mostly curbside fixed-rail streetcar circulator system, which will be commingled with traffic, began last summer. It will have 20 stations at 12 stops between Grand Boulevard and Congress Street, and it will run in the median at its north and south ends. [...]
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http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...7/first-m-1-rail-streetcar-arrives-in-detroit
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...ania-firm-to-design-6-woodward-streetcars-for
[...]
The Woodward route will employ off-wire technology, with 60 percent of the line operating on battery power provided by 750-volt rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The three-piece, articulated cars are expected to be 66 feet long and be able to carry 125 passengers on average.

"Selection of Brookville provides M-1 RAIL with a company that has experience constructing streetcars that best meet this project's technological requirements and timeline, " said Paul Childs, chief operating officer for M-1 RAIL. "We are pleased to reach agreement with Brookville, a streetcar manufacturer that specializes in the advanced off-wire technology that will make our system a leader in this technology."

By not using overhead wires, M-1 will "minimize its impact on the aesthetics of Detroit's iconic Woodward Avenue, and the Penske Technical Center will not have the labyrinth of wires overhead that typify the maintenance and repair sites of other systems," Childs said.

He said the off-wire technology "also enhances safety and enables more efficient maintenance and repair due to safe, but simpler, procedures for technicians."

M-1 said the cars will travel up to the maximum 35 miles per hour speed on Woodward and will flow with traffic and stop for traffic lights and "delivery of the six streetcars will begin in the fourth quarter of 2016." [...]
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http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2015/06/08/rail-buying-wire-streetcars/28683317/

If nothing else, it does raise the question as to what capacity the Flexity's have to run on emergency battery storage? Battery running is easy to do on a DC system, very little loss with modern switching supplies. Two big drawbacks are weight and expense proportional to the battery capacity.
 
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4406 and 4423 are running on regular scheduled runs today on 504 with 4420 running as an extra. Here's 4420 at Broadview and Gerrard.
 

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nfitz said:
Streetcars running in and out of service to Leslie Barns are signed as 501.
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It was near the Neville Loop though so unless it made a wrong turn. Not the first one I've seen eithier, although its always on the weekend.
 
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