thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
4602 is testing at Humber Loop signed onto the 501.
Since the are refusing to let riders press the button, they are opening and closing doors unnecessary creating more wear and tears and increasing failure rates from mechanical door problems while increasing the HVAC load along with freeing the riders.On an interesting side note, I see the TTC has been looking into further screwing around with streetcar operations and making things worse then they already are. They've started to increase the time it takes for the doors to fully close. Why? I have no damn clue.
I can report that 4603 was delivered to Hillcrest successfully this afternoon - around 3:30pm or so.
IMO, we spent years getting Bombardier sorted out. There’s no point in abandoning all that effort by now buying a new set of different cars from some other firm. Has Toronto ever sourced rail stock from two concurrent suppliers? Just order another sixty or more cars, keep the Thunder Bay lads working. Toronto should do what the navy should be doing, order a trickle of replacement stock so to keep the yards operating, as opposed to painfully and wastefully starting fresh every few decades.According to the report, those 60 additional streetcars are needed immediately. Which means Bombardier.
That leaves another 40+ for the Portlands and other streetcar expansion. Which could be any manufacturer.
IMO, we spent years getting Bombardier sorted out. There’s no point in abandoning all that effort by now buying a new set of different cars from some other firm. Has Toronto ever sourced rail stock from two concurrent suppliers? Just order another sixty or more cars, keep the Thunder Bay lads working. Toronto should do what the navy should be doing, order a trickle of replacement stock so to keep the yards operating, as opposed to painfully and wastefully starting fresh every few decades.
What’s the alternative? look at the crap Ottawa bought from Alstrom for their light rail, with system wide failures, doors that don’t work, etc.
Most of the "bugs" aren't design faults but assembly fault specific to each vehicle. It's like a worker installing the wrong type of wires for whatever reason. More orders can't help it if the continue to do that or a new set of workers make the same mistakes. The vehicle would still work but fail in extreme situations.With Toronto, the first streetcars from Bombardier had "bugs" discovered while in revenue service. They were "fixed" before the time number 204 cames into revenue service, allegedly. With Ottawa, their vehicle "bugs" were discovered when ALL the vehicles were put into revenue service.
The Waterloo ION Freedom vehicles are similar to Toronto's Outlook vehicles, so most of the "bugs" were discovered before hand. That's one reason to continue with a 60+ order with Bombardier.
On an interesting side note, I see the TTC has been looking into further screwing around with streetcar operations and making things worse then they already are. They've started to increase the time it takes for the doors to fully close. Why? I have no damn clue.
Unless Metrolinx order the USB at time of tender, there most likely not be on the cars like TTC.Can anyone confirm that the latest Bombardier Outlook streetcars came with USB charging slots. Or are they waiting till all of them go pantographs and then install them?
If not, hopefully the next order will have USB slots.
The reason for asking is this article from http://www.tautonline.com/zurich-receives-first-new-flexity-tram/ at this link.
Zürich receives first new Flexity tram
The first seven-section 43m Bombardier Flexity 100% low-floor single-ended tram (Be6/8 4001) was delivered by road to Zürich’s central workshops in Altstetten during the night of 12-13 November. It was ready to run, and shown to the press on 15 November, but will not enter service until summer 2020. It should be seen on city streets during test runs before the end of 2019.A fleet of 70 such vehicles are on order, with an option for a further 70, representing the first new design for VBZ in 20 years. The 2.4m-wide trams are carried on four bogies, three of which are powered by two 110kW asynchronous motors to deal with gradients up to 8%. Inside there are 91 seats and space for an additional 188 standing passengers (at four passengers/m2).Zürich’s traditional wooden seats are fitted, alongside enhancements such as USB charging and LED lighting. The floor height is 350mm at entrances. The trams are also fitted with Bombardier’s ODAS collision warning and braking system. When the first 70 arrive over the next five years they will be put into service on lines 7, 11 and 14.The new trams were tendered in 2011 but due to a disagreement with the city council they were not formally ordered until March 2017. The CHF358m (EUR325.5m) contract was placed in order to start replacing the Tram-2000 generation dating from 1976-87.Under the original timescale deliveries should have begun a year ago to be ready for the expansion of the network in 2019, instead of which VBZ has been struggling with a tram shortage, met in part by reinstating two Mirage cars from the heritage fleet into passenger service.At 2.4m-wide, they are narrower than Toronto's Flexity Outlook streetcars, at 2.54 m. (The Flexity Freedom light rail vehicles, for the Crosstown LRT, are 2.65 m wide.) At 43m long, they are longer than Toronto's Outlook's at 30.20 m.