Bombardier agrees to fix Toronto subway-car glitch
Issue with doors not closing
Bombardier Inc. agreed Friday to fix the door problem on its Rocket cars causing delays on the Toronto subway system.
The glitch is a software issue rendering the car doors overly sensitive to any minor obstruction — including a coattail or a coffee cup.
After three failed attempts at closing the doors, the train, consisting of six cars, must be taken out of service.
Bombardier has agreed to fix the roughly 160 Rocket cars the Toronto Transit Commission has already put into service on its busiest Yonge-University-Spadina line as well as the other 360 on order that are being built at the company’s factory in Thunder Bay.
TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said that transit commission president Andy Byford and Raymond Bachant, president of Bombardier Transportation for North America, held “a very productive, a very good meeting” on Friday at Byford’s request.
“(Bombardier) accepted responsibility for the problem and they believe they can expedite a fix by the end of February 2013 for in-service vehicles and on production cars.”
Bombardier Transportation spokesperson Marc Laforge agreed in an email that the work should be done by February.
“We’re going to work with the TTC.”
“The cost of repairing the problem was not discussed in any way,” he added.
Bombardier would have to pay for any technical adjustment, he has previously said.
Ross said that the t wo presidents also discussed the streetcar order the TTC placed with Bombardier, as well as another minor issue on the Rocket train.
There are no hand-holds, or straps, for passengers to hang on to at spots where boxes for the open-concept cars’ HVAC — heating, ventilation and air conditioning — system hang down from the ceiling.
“So we talked about a retrofit — maybe a recess for the units or something else.”
That issue has nothing to do with Bombardier’s work, but the company has agreed to work on a solution, he added.
“It’s the kind of issue that crops up only after cars are put into service,” Ross said.
fshalom@ montrealgazette.com