Another new streetcar will soon hit streets
The first delivery of 2017 finally arrives in Toronto from Bombardier’s facility
What costs $5 million, weighs 48,200 kilograms, and should have been here more than two years ago? The TTC’s newest streetcar. The transit commission’s fleet of new low-floor light rail vehicles grew by one on Thursday, with the arrival of car 4431 at the TTC’s Hillcrest Yard on Bathurst St. It will be the 31st vehicle to enter service, and is the first to be delivered this year.
It was something of a bittersweet occasion for the TTC. Under the original terms of its troubled deal with manufacturer Bombardier, the agency was to have more than 109 of the new cars by now.
“It’s always nice to have another new streetcar in service, for sure,” said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green. “Bombardier has committed to delivering 40 this year and we look forward to more arriving.”
Getting the car onto TTC property is only part of the battle — it takes a lot more work to get it ready to carry passengers.
Like most of its predecessors, car 4431 was shipped from Bombardier’s plant in Thunder Bay, Ont. on a specialized flatbed rail car transported by a CP train. The flatbed is fitted with rails compatible with the TTC’s unique track gauge, which allows the streetcar to sit on top of it and be easily towed off onto a loading dock once it arrives.
Before the car can be off-loaded, it undergoes visual “pre-inspection” for any dents, scratches or other damage that could have occurred during its four-day, 1,300-km journey. The inspection is conducted jointly by the TTC and Bombardier, which maintains about 25 employees in Toronto to oversee the process of getting the new cars into service.
Once the pre-inspection is complete, an older model streetcar is used to tow the new one onto a siding at the Hillcrest facility. It waits there until the evening, when traffic is lighter, for another new streetcar to tow it through the streets to the Leslie Barns. Once there, the new vehicle is powered up and Bombardier’s employees lead the testing of electrical systems like doors, intercoms, control panels and horns.
“It’s a big computer, right? So we have to make sure that everything is talking to each other,” said Joe Mada, the TTC’s project integrator for the streetcar program.
It then undergoes dynamic tests of its propulsion systems and brakes, before being sent out into the streets for a crucial 600-kilometre “qualifying run.”
Only after the run is completed without incident does the TTC issue a final acceptance certificate, and officially take ownership. In the early days of the program, it could take up to 20 days to get a new car into service, but Mada said the TTC and Bombardier have cut that down to eight.
“The early cars, it was a learning process for everyone in terms of how the car handled our conditions in Toronto, as opposed to the test track,” he said. If all goes well, car 4431 should welcome its first passengers by next Friday.
The arrival of the 31st car is good news for the TTC, but with only one car delivered so far this year, Bombardier will have to produce an average of 3.5 a month to meet the target of 40 new vehicles in 2017.
Bombardier spokesperson Marc-André Lefebvre said that after making “significant investments in its people, processes and its products” last year, the company is “entirely on track” to meet its 2017 commitment.
All 204 of the new vehicles are supposed to arrive by 2019.
Workers at Hillcrest say that the quality of the cars has improved over time, but that some still have minor issues like incorrect wiring, seats not properly secured and missing securing cables.
The problems are fixed on site and aren’t serious enough to delay the cars entering service.
“We’re still seeing a lot of workmanship issues,” said Keefe Valladares, a consulting engineer. “That again, might be superficial, might be minor. But they shouldn’t be there.”
Lefebvre said that Bombardier “has put in place, with TTC, a rigorous process that ensures that the cars meet our utmost standards of quality before we hand them over.”