Inkarnate
Active Member
Hopefully there'll a date/location set-up for it early so I can go see it.
Sadly, I'm terrible at being punctual and will need to work on that
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Hopefully there'll a date/location set-up for it early so I can go see it.
Sadly, I'm terrible at being punctual and will need to work on that
andomano
Active Member
A mock-up for the streetcar would be interesting to see in regards to the vehicle choice (using a legacy-fleet streetcar or a trailer) since the design will be completely different from what we currently have. It won't be as easy to visualize as the mock-up was for the TR trains since the shell is essentially the same.
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
Couldn't they just send a flexity for the 'mock-up'?
andomano
Active Member
Maybe the Brussels Flexity in Vancouver will make the trip across the continent?
Seems like if this display does in fact happen it should be shown at the EX as opposed to Y&D like in times past
Seems like if this display does in fact happen it should be shown at the EX as opposed to Y&D like in times past
TTC12
Active Member
Here's an article on the Flexity that is running at vanvouver, its pretty interesting.
http://stephenrees.wordpress.com/20...he-olympic-line-–-vancouver’s-2010-streetcar/
Also on the article a video on a brief walkthrough inside the flexity, I'll post it here, and its on the artivle too. I have to say that it looked quite narrow, however ours will be wider. Most Notably, leather seats, confortavle, but screaminG out to be DESTROYED! (ReBoot Reference) by vandals here in Toronto if we get those seats.
Finally the 'joystick' controller made me laugh...
[video=youtube;otlKxoDDL4A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlKxoDDL4A&feature=player_embedded[/video]
http://stephenrees.wordpress.com/20...he-olympic-line-–-vancouver’s-2010-streetcar/
Also on the article a video on a brief walkthrough inside the flexity, I'll post it here, and its on the artivle too. I have to say that it looked quite narrow, however ours will be wider. Most Notably, leather seats, confortavle, but screaminG out to be DESTROYED! (ReBoot Reference) by vandals here in Toronto if we get those seats.
Finally the 'joystick' controller made me laugh...
[video=youtube;otlKxoDDL4A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlKxoDDL4A&feature=player_embedded[/video]
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The Brussels version is narrower than version Toronto will be gettting.
drum118
Superstar
There will be 2 open house this year to get feedback as what riders want to see in the new cars and what a waste of time.
In Jan 2011, a mock up of haft of the car will be put on display for final input before production starts on the order.
Time line is getting longer and longer with how many be here by 2015 for the Pan Am Games??
In Jan 2011, a mock up of haft of the car will be put on display for final input before production starts on the order.
Time line is getting longer and longer with how many be here by 2015 for the Pan Am Games??
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Using the history of the PCC streetcar for example, the PCC design committee was formed in the 1929. The first order was built in 1936 for Brooklyn, New York. Toronto got their first order by 1938.
Today's streetcar version is more complicated with electronics, air conditioning, propulsion (look at the problems Toyota is having), braking, communication, etc..
The new HRT subway cars were started being looked at by 2005, ordered by 2006, and only starting to roll in the tunnels later in 2010.
There's no walking into a dealer and driving out with a new one, the same day.
Today's streetcar version is more complicated with electronics, air conditioning, propulsion (look at the problems Toyota is having), braking, communication, etc..
The new HRT subway cars were started being looked at by 2005, ordered by 2006, and only starting to roll in the tunnels later in 2010.
There's no walking into a dealer and driving out with a new one, the same day.
kettal
Banned
They did that a couple of years ago. Got one from Minneapolis it was on show at the Ex.
leopetr
Active Member
That was a Bombardier, but a 70% low floor one rather than a Flexity. It would be interesting to walk through a real Flexity.
Jayomatic
Active Member
I wonder how many piece of feedback will be "Get it on the damn roads already. P.S. The TTC Sucks."
grey
Senior Member
The clunky Minneapolis bumblebee streetcar was horrible and made even the most devout athiests pray that Siemens' bid would be chosen.
Justin10000
Banned
That was a Bombardier, but a 70% low floor one rather than a Flexity. It would be interesting to walk through a real Flexity.
The Minneapolis vehicle is a Flexity vehicle. Flexity Swift to be exact. The Toronto, and Brussels vehicles are Flexity Outlooks, and designed for older systems.
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W. K. Lis
Superstar
On February 20, Vancouver's Olympic Line reached a new milestone - 300,000 riders in just 30 days. Emma Agosti was identified as the 300,000th passenger and received a gift package and a ride in the cab of the BOMBARDIER FLEXITY streetcar.
[video=youtube;YFH0ba08118]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFH0ba08118[/video]
[video=youtube;YFH0ba08118]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFH0ba08118[/video]
andomano
Active Member
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/772727--companies-vie-for-chunk-of-1-2b-ttc-streetcar-contract?bn=1
Companies vie for chunk of $1.2B TTC streetcar contract
David Rider Urban Affairs Bureau Chief
A Vaughan company and a Montreal competitor are in a “war” to grab a lucrative piece of the TTC’s $1.2 billion contract with Bombardier to replace 204 streetcars.
The results, to be decided in the next month, will determine how many of the hundreds of direct GTA jobs forecast by Bombardier will materialize and where they will be located.
“It is important that we have a partner in the Greater Toronto Area,” said Wernfried Kühnel, sales manager for VEM’s traction motor division, in an interview from Dresden. “We choose two or three partners and in the coming weeks we will choose who we will work with.”
Germany-based VEM, which won a subcontract from Bombardier to design the traction motor for the Euro-styled Flexity Outlook cars, is looking for a Canadian partner to assemble the motors.
VEM is talking to companies including Sherwood Electromotion of Vaughan and IEC Holden of Montreal about assembling all or part of the motors, Kühnel said.
“This is not a friendly competition — it’s a war,” Kühnel said with a laugh.
Bombardier suggested to VEM that it find a Canadian partner for the motor assembly to help it meet the TTC’s requirement that 25 per cent of the value of the massive contract be spent on Canadian parts and labour, he said.
Bombardier has also said it wants to make sure jobs are created in the GTA, he added.
Richard Williams, a project manager at Bombardier Transportation, said three companies — Sherwood, which is primarily a motor repairer and refurbisher, IEC Holden, a motor manufacturer, and Toronto-based Ainsworth Inc., a supplier of electrical, communications, mechanical and control systems — have all been “very entrepreneurial” in trying to win a piece of the streetcar prize.
“All were very aggressive in trying to get into Bombardier because this is a huge contract; it’s (believed to be) the biggest tram contract in the history of the world, 204 (cars and) there might be more coming,” he said, adding the car produced “could be used as a platform for the North American market.”
There is no requirement in the contract for GTA jobs but “naturally if we can re-invest the monies into the Toronto area, naturally that’s greatly appreciated by the customer and by everybody,” he said.
Last June, after Toronto city council passed a motion to ratify the deal which will see the “light rail vehicles” built in Thunder Bay, Mayor David Miller told reporters: “This is probably my proudest moment as mayor of Toronto.
“We have just secured the transit future of this city for a generation. And not only that, they will create thousands of jobs in Thunder Bay and around the 905 for parts suppliers.”
A study commissioned by Montreal-based Bombardier, which beat out German-based Siemens for the contract, said the deal would directly generate 5,700 jobs, including 5,000 in Ontario, 350 of them in the GTA. The Toronto area would also benefit from another 4,100 jobs created through spin-offs, it said.
VEM will decide over the next month, after visits to Dresden from Sherwood and IEC Holden officials, which Canadian company or companies will get subcontracts and whether it will be for a full or partial motor assembly, Kühnel told the Star.
“We visited Sherwood last December,” he said. “We visited different Canadian partners and Sherwood is one of our favourites. They have good experience,” he said, adding the fact that most of Sherwood’s experience is in motor repair, rather than manufacture, wouldn’t be a problem because VEM staff would provide any needed training.
On its website, Sherwood describes itself as a “leading independent provider of assembly and remanufacturing services for rotating electrical apparatus for rail, mass transit and industrial applications,” with one plant in Woodbridge and another in Buffalo, N.Y.
In a recent interview, Sherwood chief executive George Gavrilidis told the Star his company — the only traction motor firm in the GTA — has manufactured streetcar motor components for the TTC for more than 30 years.
But, if VEM asks it to assemble the entire motor, Sherwood will do so and sub-contract the production of some parts, including castings, to other firms “through the GTA,” he said.
“The entire traction motor will be made right here,” Gavrilidis predicted.
But he said it was a “sensitive time” in contract negotiations and he didn’t want publicity until after he and other Sherwood officials go to Dresden, hopefully to sign a contract, around March 21.
John Overton, IEC Holden’s project manager on the TTC streetcar file, declined comment on the ongoing negotiations.
The City of Toronto is paying $834 million of the streetcar tab, with the Ontario government picking up the other $417 million. Miller failed to get Ottawa to pay one-third of the cost with money from the federal infrastructure program.
Whatever contracts flow from VEM could reap greater benefits. The TTC’s contract from Bombardier contains an option that would allow the provincial Metrolinx agency to buy another 200 cars for the regional Transit City light rapid transit lines at a preferred price.
If that option is exercised, industry experts say, it’s very likely that companies with subcontracts for the TTC streetcars will also get work on the Transit City cars.
Companies vie for chunk of $1.2B TTC streetcar contract
David Rider Urban Affairs Bureau Chief
A Vaughan company and a Montreal competitor are in a “war” to grab a lucrative piece of the TTC’s $1.2 billion contract with Bombardier to replace 204 streetcars.
The results, to be decided in the next month, will determine how many of the hundreds of direct GTA jobs forecast by Bombardier will materialize and where they will be located.
“It is important that we have a partner in the Greater Toronto Area,” said Wernfried Kühnel, sales manager for VEM’s traction motor division, in an interview from Dresden. “We choose two or three partners and in the coming weeks we will choose who we will work with.”
Germany-based VEM, which won a subcontract from Bombardier to design the traction motor for the Euro-styled Flexity Outlook cars, is looking for a Canadian partner to assemble the motors.
VEM is talking to companies including Sherwood Electromotion of Vaughan and IEC Holden of Montreal about assembling all or part of the motors, Kühnel said.
“This is not a friendly competition — it’s a war,” Kühnel said with a laugh.
Bombardier suggested to VEM that it find a Canadian partner for the motor assembly to help it meet the TTC’s requirement that 25 per cent of the value of the massive contract be spent on Canadian parts and labour, he said.
Bombardier has also said it wants to make sure jobs are created in the GTA, he added.
Richard Williams, a project manager at Bombardier Transportation, said three companies — Sherwood, which is primarily a motor repairer and refurbisher, IEC Holden, a motor manufacturer, and Toronto-based Ainsworth Inc., a supplier of electrical, communications, mechanical and control systems — have all been “very entrepreneurial” in trying to win a piece of the streetcar prize.
“All were very aggressive in trying to get into Bombardier because this is a huge contract; it’s (believed to be) the biggest tram contract in the history of the world, 204 (cars and) there might be more coming,” he said, adding the car produced “could be used as a platform for the North American market.”
There is no requirement in the contract for GTA jobs but “naturally if we can re-invest the monies into the Toronto area, naturally that’s greatly appreciated by the customer and by everybody,” he said.
Last June, after Toronto city council passed a motion to ratify the deal which will see the “light rail vehicles” built in Thunder Bay, Mayor David Miller told reporters: “This is probably my proudest moment as mayor of Toronto.
“We have just secured the transit future of this city for a generation. And not only that, they will create thousands of jobs in Thunder Bay and around the 905 for parts suppliers.”
A study commissioned by Montreal-based Bombardier, which beat out German-based Siemens for the contract, said the deal would directly generate 5,700 jobs, including 5,000 in Ontario, 350 of them in the GTA. The Toronto area would also benefit from another 4,100 jobs created through spin-offs, it said.
VEM will decide over the next month, after visits to Dresden from Sherwood and IEC Holden officials, which Canadian company or companies will get subcontracts and whether it will be for a full or partial motor assembly, Kühnel told the Star.
“We visited Sherwood last December,” he said. “We visited different Canadian partners and Sherwood is one of our favourites. They have good experience,” he said, adding the fact that most of Sherwood’s experience is in motor repair, rather than manufacture, wouldn’t be a problem because VEM staff would provide any needed training.
On its website, Sherwood describes itself as a “leading independent provider of assembly and remanufacturing services for rotating electrical apparatus for rail, mass transit and industrial applications,” with one plant in Woodbridge and another in Buffalo, N.Y.
In a recent interview, Sherwood chief executive George Gavrilidis told the Star his company — the only traction motor firm in the GTA — has manufactured streetcar motor components for the TTC for more than 30 years.
But, if VEM asks it to assemble the entire motor, Sherwood will do so and sub-contract the production of some parts, including castings, to other firms “through the GTA,” he said.
“The entire traction motor will be made right here,” Gavrilidis predicted.
But he said it was a “sensitive time” in contract negotiations and he didn’t want publicity until after he and other Sherwood officials go to Dresden, hopefully to sign a contract, around March 21.
John Overton, IEC Holden’s project manager on the TTC streetcar file, declined comment on the ongoing negotiations.
The City of Toronto is paying $834 million of the streetcar tab, with the Ontario government picking up the other $417 million. Miller failed to get Ottawa to pay one-third of the cost with money from the federal infrastructure program.
Whatever contracts flow from VEM could reap greater benefits. The TTC’s contract from Bombardier contains an option that would allow the provincial Metrolinx agency to buy another 200 cars for the regional Transit City light rapid transit lines at a preferred price.
If that option is exercised, industry experts say, it’s very likely that companies with subcontracts for the TTC streetcars will also get work on the Transit City cars.