New TTC trains delayed after door company goes belly up
New TTC trains delayed after door company goes belly up
Posted: January 14, 2010, 3:47 PM by Natalie Alcoba
The new TTC subway trains are delayed after the company that was building the doors went bankrupt.
A prototype of the trains, dubbed the Toronto Rocket through a naming contest, was supposed to be doing dry runs by now, said Brad Ross, a spokesman for the Toronto Transit Commission. Now, he's not sure when that first train will arrive. It will be two or three months after that before the first trains are in operation.
Curtis Doors, a supplier for Bombardier Transportation, closed its doors last year. "Certainly the trains are delayed because of the issue with the doors," said Mr. Ross. He said the commission is pushing Bombardier as hard as it can to deliver the trains as soon as possible.
Talal Zouaoui, a spokesperson for Bombardier Transportation, said the prototype train is delayed "and this is due to some issues and some lateness from some of our key suppliers, and I would not point fingers at anyone." He said the train is in the test phase but could not report on when it might be delivered. "We're on a good track," he said.
The Toronto Rocket are 10% bigger, which for a standing room only train that packs 1100 people means about 110 more people. The maps in the trains will be electronic and light up at each station. There will also be arrows pointing to which doors will open. By joining the cars with gangways, passengers will be able to walk the train from end to end.
"We're really looking forward to them," said Mr. Ross. He said the trains will take over the Yonge-University-Spadina line, moving the T1 models onto the Bloor-Danforth line.
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