TTC: Flexity Streetcars Testing & Delivery (Bombardier)

[muller877]

To put it back into the TTC's perspective....

There are numerous different maintenance crews. Cleaning. Running repairs. Body men. Mechanical. Electrical. All do different jobs, and not all need to have the same shifts. Cleaning and running repairs are doing mostly at night, but the body men may only need to be on duty during the day, as their jobs are more intensive and require more time, effort and equipment to do.

In transit there is also almost zero capability for sourcing extra equipment if needed on a day-by-day basis, and an absolutely zero capability when it comes to the streetcars and subways. Thus, you need to make sure that your spares ratio is high enough to cover all potential situations - not just vehicles that break down on a day-to-day basis, but also for recalls and warranty work, fitting out of new and updated systems, to name but two.

Finally, what is the average amount of time that your vehicles are on the road? From what I recall from my friends in the logistics industry, the average time on the road for each truck is something like 5 and a half hours per day, 5 days a week. A transit vehicle averages far more time in service - for the TTC's bus fleet, it's something like 13 hours a day, 6 days a week. Streetcars are something similar. That's a lot of wear-and-tear not just on the engine and transmission, but suspension and steering components, doors and windows, HVAC, etc.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

For supplies transit is very similar to most industries other than trucks and autos. And most firms have enough parts in inventory for both minor repairs to major repairs to avoid any lost time. Think of all the types of fleets that are out there. From planes to trains to industrial machinery. But there is consistency in each fleet..the larger your fleet the lower the % of inventory.

Most of the vehicles are used for 12 hours a day. But they are idled for around 1/2 of that (I would presume similar to transit...where you idle at stops). 12 hours gives you enough time to do almost any repair if you plan ahead...including body work. For engine work we normally remove the whole engine and replace it with a spare if it is going to take too long.

If you want difficult maintenance schedules the worst I've every seen is out in Fort Mac. During winter the vehicles are on 24/7 to prevent freezing. I'd dread to see that schedule. But I know their shut-down due to the fires allowed them to catch up on the repairs. They were deferring the large maintenance due to cost constraints for a year plus and it allowed them to catch up (almost sounds familiar to transit!)

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And Metrolinx is joining the game:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ver-late-delivery-of-light-rail-vehicles.html

AoD

 

[edmundoconnor]

I imagine any legal action will be happening over and against the gnashing of teeth from Liberal MPPs from Thunder Bay. According to them, Bombardier can do no wrong. Ever. It's the rest of the world that's wrong!

 

[AlbertHWagstaff]

If your not happy when even 19 of the 21 vehicles are doing something, then I don't think you'll ever be happy.
/QUOTE]


There are about 40 ALRVs "available" for service but there seem to be only 24-26 out at the rush hours, causing CLRVs to be used on 501 and 504 where ALRVs would be used. Where's the complaining about that?

There aren't many true "spare" vehicles lying around. As smallspy noted, there are schedules for inspections, maintenance, running repairs that need to be done, major repairs that can take more than one day, cars that need to be reserved for training, interior washing, plus those at the shops while major components are overhauled. Once you deduct these out of the "available" number, that doesn't leave many just sitting around "idle". Sure you can run all the Flexities all day every day, but they'll be filthy pretty quickly if you're not able to do detailed interior washes. Putting more people on the night shift costs more, so interior washes and detailed inspections are done during the day.

 

[cplchanb]

well.... so far all quiet on the TB front......has 4423 been rolled out of the shed yet??? Whats the new problem this time?

 

[W. K. Lis]

well.... so far all quiet on the TB front......has 4423 been rolled out of the shed yet??? Whats the new problem this time?

Probably working on the Freedom light rail vehicle prototype, which is way, way behind delivery. Pulling workers away to get one out before October.

 

[smallspy]

well.... so far all quiet on the TB front......has 4423 been rolled out of the shed yet??? Whats the new problem this time?

As indicated by a member on a different forum, it should be leaving this week, if it hasn't already.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[pstogios]

And Metrolinx is joining the game:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ver-late-delivery-of-light-rail-vehicles.html

AoD

Good. Sue the asses off these morons. This company needs to go down.

This is rich:
"He said company plans to supply the first pilot vehicle next month"
and
"Based on this timeline, and the strong production recovery plan it recently announced, Bombardier is confident that it will meet its commitments” to Metrolinx, Lefebvre said."

Does anyone believe this in the slightest?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Good. Sue the asses off these morons. This company needs to go down.

This is rich:
"He said company plans to supply the first pilot vehicle next month"
and
"Based on this timeline, and the strong production recovery plan it recently announced, Bombardier is confident that it will meet its commitments” to Metrolinx, Lefebvre said."

Does anyone believe this in the slightest?

I could believe it, and even believe that it could implemented - doesn't mean they are off the legal hook since they did breach the contract.

AoD

 

[rbt]

Probably working on the Freedom light rail vehicle prototype, which is way, way behind delivery. Pulling workers away to get one out before October.

Actually, given the substantial assembly line changes I expect they pulled workers away to train more staff and create jigs/tools needed to produce the vehicles; that's not a trivial task.

 

[nfitz]

"Based on this timeline, and the strong production recovery plan it recently announced, Bombardier is confident that it will meet its commitments” to Metrolinx, Lefebvre said."

Does anyone believe this in the slightest?

Seems reasonable enough. They've got a few years yet to build the 99 cars for Finch and Eglinton. I'd think they'd be able to churn them out by 2018/2019 quick enough in the new plant. They've had the ability to churn out GO cars and TR cars pretty fast, when they aren't stuck in a Mexican stand-off.

 

[DSC]

Seems reasonable enough. They've got a few years yet to build the 99 cars for Finch and Eglinton. I'd think they'd be able to churn them out by 2018/2019 quick enough in the new plant. They've had the ability to churn out GO cars and TR cars pretty fast, when they aren't stuck in a Mexican stand-off.

As they are years behind with most of their other projects (planes and streetcars) I fail to see why you are so optimistic.

 

[rbt]

As they are years behind with most of their other projects (planes and streetcars) I fail to see why you are so optimistic.

How exactly do you define "most"?

You know they make a couple dozen different products for hundreds of customers at any given time right?

 

[DSC]

How exactly do you define "most"?

You know they make a couple dozen different products for hundreds of customers at any given time right?

OK. A lot of their 'rather important' projects. Their reputation (and their share price) have not done well of late.

 

[rbt]

OK. A lot of their 'rather important' projects. Their reputation (and their share price) have not done well of late.

There is only 1 project that's impacting the share price; and to be fair both Airbus and Boeing regularly approach bankruptcy everytime they roll out a major new model too. It seems to be pretty normal for the industry. They've got enough orders and even more are expected, so it's down to can they deliver.

TTC/Metrolinx LRT order makes no difference one way or the other (seriously, match up LRT news to share movements; zero correlation). Most of their train departments value is in Europe and Asia anyway; the North American lines don't contribute a whole lot.

For disclosure purposes, I became a shareholder early this year so I'm kinda rah-rah on their ability to execute the CS100 orders. Wouldn't mind if their railway division was tossed to the Chinese though the Canadian gov would never approve that sale.